Trail Blazers visit LeBron James and the Cavaliers

This afternoon at 4:00 p.m. PST, the Portland Trail Blazers take on the Cleveland Cavaliers. After avoiding the snowpocalypse in New York on Monday, the Trail Blazers are gearing up for a meeting with LeBron James and company. The Cavaliers have seemed to turn things around in a hurry, winning their last seven games. The game can be seen on KGW and heard on Rip City Radio 620 AM.

Due to the postponed game on Monday in Brooklyn, the Trail Blazers have had three days of rest and it was desperately needed. Several Trail Blazers are nursing some sort of injury, including Aldridge and Batum. Tuesday was the first time the Trail Blazers had stepped on a court since Saturday. The days off seems to have helped Batum’s wrist pain subside. “It’s feeling better,” Batum told Casey Holdahl, beat writer for the Trail Blazers. “I got a couple days off … I shot for the first time today. I got treatment twice a day since I got hurt. It feels messed up but I’ve got a lot of tape on it. It was okay. We’ll see tomorrow morning after shootaround.”

The Trail Blazers are coming off an impressive win over the Washington Wizards (103-96). Even though they’ve gained rest by not playing in Brooklyn, it would have been a nice warm up game before heading to Cleveland. Not saying a win against the Nets would have been a sure thing but they are definitely not as strong as the Cavaliers are right now. This will be the Trail Blazers’ second meeting with the Cavaliers but they are not the same team the Trail Blazers faced in early November.

The Cavaliers have won seven straight and look like they’ve found a way to play together. James is finally healthy (even after taking a hard fall last night) and he is having a huge impact. James is averaging 30.5 points over eight games since returning to the court, after he was sidelined with knee and back problems. His teammates have also started to produce, which is easier when James takes the pressure off. Irving tied his season-high with 38 points in Tuesday’s win over the Detroit Pistons. Love has still struggled to get his marks back up around his season average but he is definitely still an integral part of this team. New additions have made everyone’s job easier.

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I look for this matchup to be very entertaining and hopefully end in a Trail Blazers victory. It won’t be easy but I do believe the Trail Blazers have the ability to matchup with the Cavaliers. Lillard vs. Irving is also fun and tonight should be another great duel. Lillard might be able to take advantage of Irving’s fatigue (if there is any) as the Cavaliers are on their second night of a back-to-back. Then again, Irving was hot from the floor last night and he could carry some momentum into tonight’s game.

The inside game is a little more questionalbe. Mozgov and Tristan Thompson will be aggressive on the boards and could be too much to handle for Kaman and Meyers Leonard. If the Trail Blazers can contain James (averaging 30.5 points against the Trail Blazers since 2007-2008) and Irving as well as control the boards, they will be in line for a probable win.

Next: Kyrie Irving buries Blazers with career-high 55 points