NBA Match Preview: Cleveland Cavaliers vs Philadelphia 76ers
On 16th of last month, the Philadelphia 76ers were hosted by Cleveland Cavaliers at the Quicken Loans Arena (QLA). In their second season meeting then, the 76ers suffered heavy losses to lose their fourth straight match on the road. Now one month
later, the two teams are meeting again. This time the 76ers host the Cavaliers at the Wells Fargo Centre.
Trailing the standings in the Eastern Conference, the 76ers are currently at a 6-14 mark this season. Though they have suffered several losses in their road matches (1-10), their home stretch (5-4) lies in the positives. Having won all of their matches at
the QLA in the last three weeks, the 76ers are currently on a four game winning streak at home. Pitted against the Cavaliers on Tuesday night, the 76ers look to improve this to a five game streak.
With only three games last week, the 76ers enjoyed a 2-1 mark for the week. They hosted and defeated the Portland Trail Blazers (88-79) on Monday and then the Charlotte Bobcats (109-91) on Saturday. Their only loss in the week came on Friday when they played
an away match with the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks sent the 76ers packing with an 88-93 defeat.
Their latest victory at home against the Bobcats goes completely to their shooting guard Jodie Meeks. Scoring 26 points in the match, Meeks helped the Sixers go up a number in their home stretch. Meeks made his debut in the franchise on Friday against the
Hawks. Having replaced Evan Turner in both the weekend matches, Meeks currently averages 8.8 points in the season.
Looking to improve, Meeks believes he can win more matches for the Sixers. A confident Meeks is reported to have said, "This league is all about your opportunity. I tried to do as much as I could early in the season, kept getting better and kept getting
better. Now it's paying off."
The Cavaliers, on the other hand, finished their week with no wins. With two home matches and two away matches, the Cavaliers were thrashed mercilessly by their opponents. In their last two matches, they lost by a combined score of 62 points. This was the
first week of the season for the Cavaliers where they failed to secure a single win. With a 0-4 mark this week, the team has gone from a 7-9 on 29th Nov to a 7-13 on 5th Dec.
Although, they are currently on a four game losing streak, their record on the road is even more terrible. Their road score now stands at six straight defeats. Their latest defeat on the road came on Sunday when they met the Detroit Pistons. Though the Cavaliers
were leading the score in the first quarter they eventually lost 92-109.
Talking about the match, Coach Bryan Scott said, "Obviously, I'm not happy about the loss, but I am a bit happier by the fact that our guys competed out there. That's a step in the right direction, but we've got to do it again Tuesday, and do it even harder
and even better."
Although, the Cavaliers lead the head to head score 2-0, the Sixers’ last week performance is far better than that of the Cavaliers. With both teams ready for a win tonight, the match will surely be an exciting and exhilarating one.
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