Cleveland Cavaliers: Key dates in first half of 2020-21

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Cleveland Cavaliers big Kevin Love (left) and Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James hug after a game. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

Cavs key first half dates: Jan. 24, 25 at Boston Celtics, vs. Los Angeles Lakers

Another key first half date/set of dates that jumped out was Cleveland going to the Boston Celtics on Jan. 24 for a Sunday afternoon tip, and then hosting the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday, Jan. 25.

The key to that back-to-back, quite frankly, isn’t the matchups themselves, which are probably going to be rough ones against Jaylen Brown, Kemba Walker, Jayson Tatum and Boston. Diddo with LeBron James, Anthony Davis and a reloaded Lakers team now also featuring big-time scoring guard Dennis Schroder via trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Rather it’s that the Cavs face now-Celtic Tristan Thompson as an opponent, who will likely have his #13 jersey retired by Cleveland some day for all the effort he put in on both ends of the glass, and with him having been such an exemplary teammate.

That will be bittersweet for me as a Cavs fan, honestly, but it’ll be something to see TT no longer with the Cavs.

And then the second leg of that back-to-back is when the Cavaliers play host to the Lakers. Clearly, for us Cavs fans, that’s the first time Cleveland plays their best player in franchise history, in LeBron, this coming season, who won ring #4 with L.A. a few months back.

James, who led the NBA in assists per game last season with 10.2, and won the NBA Finals MVP in the league’s Orlando bubble, is arguably the best overall NBA player ever, too. Even with all the tread on his tires, the King had 27.6 points, 10.8 rebounds, 8.8 assists and 1.2 steals per outing in the 2020 postseason.

For Kevin Love and Matthew Dellavedova, for example, both of those meetings at the Celtics/versus the Lakers will involve them going up against old buddies in Tristan and LeBron, which as a Cavs fan, will be bittersweet.

When it comes to the Lakers game, it’s uncertain as to the fan attendance from a COVID-19 standpoint, but for now in Game 1, Cleveland’s fan attendance is reportedly limited to only 300.

Rest assured, though, any time LeBron is back in The Land as a visitor from this point forward, barring injury, regardless, it’s noteworthy.

That’s when you consider all the memories, most notably, involving the historic 2016 NBA Finals comeback over the Golden State Warriors, the deep postseason runs, including five NBA Finals appearances (and four straight from 2015-2018) and everything that went with his unbelievable Cavs career.