The Showdown is tonight.
The two best teams in the Eastern Conference this season, by far, have been the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics. The Cavs have the league's best record, the best net rating in franchise history, and have leapt up into the inner circle of title contenders.
The Celtics are the defending champions, a team that knows how to win it all with the players to accomplish it. They have let their foot off the gas pedal at times this season, but they are as dangerous as any team in the league.
The two teams meet for the fourth and final time this regular season tonight. Everyone expects they will meet again in the Eastern Conference Finals, so this game is the final measuring stick for both teams ahead of that titanic showdown.
Will the Cavaliers be at full strength? Will the Celtics? Let's take a look at the injury report for both teams to see who is expected to suit up in tonight's game.
Is Darius Garland Playing?
Darius Garland missed the last two games with a hip injury he sustained in the Cavaliers' evisceration of the New York Knicks. While the Cavs won both games going away, having their All-Star point guard in the lineup would obviously be an advantage against the potent Celtics.
Heading into tonight's game, Darius Garland is playing -- in fact, he was removed entirely from the injury report. That suggests that having close to a week off allowed his hip to heal. He may not be truly 100 percent, but he is definitely playing vs the Celtics.
What is more, the Cavaliers have a completely clean injury report. All 14 rostered players are healthy and without an injury designation, as are the three two-way players. Kenny Atkinson will have every possible lineup combination available to him to try and slow down the Celtics.
Is Jaylen Brown Playing?
While the Cavaliers have a clean bill of health, the same cannot be said for the Boston Celtics. And it could give the Cavs an advantage heading into tonight's game.
All-Star forward and reigning Finals MVP Jaylen Brown missed the Celtics' last game with a thigh injury, a 20-point loss in Detroit to the red-hot Pistons. He is currently listed as questionable for tonight's game.
Without Brown, the Celtics started big vs the Pistons with both Al Horford and Kristaps Porzingis in the starting lineup, something they may very well do against the double-big Cavaliers if Brown cannot go. Additionally, his absence meant more playing time for Neemias Queta (the backup center with Horford at the 4) and Jordan Walsh, a second-year wing who is normally well outside of the rotation.
Is Jrue Holiday Playing?
The Celtics have another star on the injury report for tonight, and that is two-way point guard Jrue Holiday. The former All-Star and All-Defense guard is listed as questionable with a finger injury for the game tonight.
Holiday has something of a ready-made replacement in Payton Pritchard, but while the Celtics' bench guard is capable of getting up 3-pointers at volume, he doesn't bring the same defensive intangibles as Holiday. The trade-off would be in Cleveland's favor, although they would need to be hyper-focused on not letting him get clean looks from deep.
The Cavaliers may prefer a full-strength Celtics team to test themselves against, but it's possible they face a short-handed one. That does make it more likely that Cleveland wins and continues to grow its lead in the East, evening the season series at 2-2.
Whoever is available, the Cavaliers will have every player on their roster healthy for one of the first times all year, and if that can continue it seems very likely they will continue their winning ways throughout the coming weeks.