Cleveland Cavaliers: Winning streak on the line vs the Boston Celtics

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Cleveland Cavaliers guard Dante Exum (Photo by Alex Goodlett/Getty Images) /

The Cleveland Cavaliers will travel to Boston to take on the Boston Celtics as they look to extend their winning streak to four games. What are the three main storylines from today’s game?

The Cleveland Cavaliers are on a season-high three-game winning streak. Expectations should be tempered, slightly, as those three wins came against bad teams as they knocked off the Charlotte Hornets, the Memphis Grizzlies, and the Atlanta Hawks, all at home.

The Cavaliers haven’t played since Monday and could have a bit of rust to knock off tonight.

Today’s contest is a bit of a different animal, however. Cleveland will be taking their putrid road record of 3-11 into Boston to take on the Boston Celtics who are an incredible 12-1 at home. Boston is also one of the best in the entire Eastern Conference, overall, as they hold a 21-7 record and sit in second place in the East.

There are three main storylines to watch for in this contest. The first thing to watch is the debut of Dante Exum.

#1 thing to watch – the debut of Dante Exum

On December 23rd, the Cavaliers traded their best bench scorer, Jordan Clarkson, to the Utah Jazz in exchange for Dante Exum and a couple of second-round picks. Today, hopefully, marks the debut of Exum.

His career has been extremely disappointing thus far. Exum was selected with the number five overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft and fans around the NBA were buzzing about his potential.

Unfortunately for Exum, injuries have always been an issue. For his career, per Basketball-Reference, he has averaged 5.7 points, 2.2 assists, and 1.7 rebounds.

If he wasn’t a first-round pick, there is a high probability that he would be out of the league. Fortunately for Exum, he was a high draft choice and he can still live up to his potential. He is still just 24-years old and has plenty of time to turn his career around.

Dealing Clarkson will leave a bench scoring void that can hopefully be filled by rookie Kevin Porter Jr., but it was a swing worth taking for the Cavaliers. Exum has excellent size and athleticism. He has used those attributes to be a high-level defender at times in the past. If the Cavaliers can turn his career around, they have knocked this deal out of the park. Hopefully, today will be a glimpse into his Cavaliers’ future as he makes his debut.