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Cavs: 3 reasons to tune into game vs. San Antonio on Thursday

By Robbie DiPaola

Cleveland Cavaliers wing Kevin Porter Jr. celebrates after a made basket. (Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images)
Cleveland Cavaliers wing Kevin Porter Jr. celebrates after a made basket. (Photo by David Liam Kyle/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Cleveland Cavaliers
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Collin Sexton handles the ball. (Photos by Mark Sobhani/NBAE via Getty Images) /

The Cleveland Cavaliers will be looking to end their eight-game slide against the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday. Here’s a few reasons to tune into the matchup.

Despite the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ recent struggles leading to them having just a 5-19 record (having lost 14 of their last 15 games), they still are a young team attempting to find their way.

The Cavaliers still have some exciting young pieces and should be motivated to end their eight-game losing streak on Thursday against a San Antonio Spurs team that is under-performing in this 2019-20 season.

The Spurs are still led by veterans DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge, who are first and second on their team in scoring at 21.4 and 18.9 points per game, as shown by NBA.com, respectively.

Veterans Rudy Gay and Patty Mills also are solid contributors, and the legendary Gregg Popovich still is San Antonio’s head coach.

However, this Spurs team seems to lack the overall firepower they had in years past. The veterans are leading the way, per a usual Popovich-led team, but they do not seem to have a young player to truly rely on this season offensively.

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Reason number one to watch this first Cavs-Spurs matchup of the 2019-20 season is to see how the Cavaliers approach this game from the defensive side of the ball.

Reason #1: Seeing the Cavs’ defensive approach

The Cavs’ defensive rating of 114.4 is the second-worst in the league, according to NBA.com.

But, if the Cavaliers can force the Spurs’ younger players such as Jakob Poeltl, Dejounte Murray, or Lonnie Walker IV, to try and beat them, Cleveland should be in better shape.

The Cavaliers can counter Aldridge with their big man in Tristan Thompson, who is averaging over a block per game (1.1) and has stated on several occasions that his goal for the 2019-20 season is to make First Team All-Defense.

As for defending DeRozan, you can expect Collin Sexton, Kevin Porter Jr. and Cedi Osman to all have a turn defending the four-time All-Star.

Porter Jr. (115.8) and Sexton (115.3) have two of the three worst defensive ratings of the players on the Cavaliers who average over 20 minutes per game this season, according to NBA.com, and their youth makes it tough for them on that end.

By no means will the Cavaliers have a flawless defensive performance, as they have problems that will take all season to iron out. But if they can limit DeRozan and Aldridge, that will give them a fighting chance in this game.

Another reason to tune into this game is to see how the young players (mainly Darius Garland, Sexton, and Porter Jr.) fare against a veteran head coach like Popovich.