The Cavaliers could feast on plenty of home cooking in December
By John Suchan
The holiday spirit is in the air and the Cleveland Cavaliers have the fortune of having a plethora of home games this month and that could mean their team getting an even better handle on stabilizing their position in the top tier of the Eastern Conference. You have to love home cooking around the holidays. Lots of food and good times and right now the Cavs are playing very well. They beat the Orlando Magic most recently on Friday and now play the New York Knicks in a rare away game this month on Sunday night.
From here on out, they have nine home games coming up and only hit the road four times. Having a nice 15-8 record for the Wine and Gold could become an even more impressive mark. Gone are the years that Cleveland struggled in ex-Cavs player LeBron James’ absence. Now the team is rolling and there’s no sense to think they won’t keep winning.
Both big man Jarrett Allen and forward Dean Wade are now injured and that could cause a bit of a hiccup in the team’s success, but the team has too many talented players to lose momentum that much.
The big trade for new Cavs player Donovan Mitchell has been the biggest reason for this early season success plus Evan Mobley, who in only his second season, has become an overnight star in the league.
The Cavaliers’ slate of games in the rest of December feature a bunch of home outings, and the Wine and Gold could feast.
With that said, let’s examine those home matchups.
The first three Cavs home games: Los Angeles Lakers, Sacramento Kings, Oklahoma City Thunder
The Cavs play the Lakers on Tuesday, Dec. 6 and it will be another return of LeBron James. Los Angeles has a 9-12 record at the moment and still struggling. However, James is starting to warm up and this game could be one big highlight reel of James, Mitchell, and Mobley countering buckets all night. The world will be watching, and we should expect to see a great game by Cleveland.
The Kings then arrive in town on Friday, Dec. 9. This game could be a letdown game for the Cavs even though Sacramento is having a better season than most expected. They currently hold a 12-9 record.
The following night Cleveland welcomes the Thunder to town on Saturday, Dec. 10. OKC is another struggling team in the Western Conference as they have a 10-13 record. The Cavs need to take advantage of the fact that they are playing teams that are not winning much at the moment. Good teams take advantage of these types of situations.