The Cleveland Cavaliers are still on a roll, posting their 11th straight victory at the expense of the lowly Philadelphia Sixers 97-84 on February 2, with the team’s Big Three leading the way in scoring and rebounding.
The Cavs, who also made their seventh straight home win in the process, is just three games shy of besting the longest winning streak in franchise history at 13 games made during the 2009-10 NBA season, the last season of LeBron James before he signed up to play for the Miami Heat in the next four years.
Although the 11th win was a breeze for Cleveland notwithstanding that they fought against the Sixers, which is the worst team in the NBA Eastern Conference, and the second worst overall, the team will be in for a tougher assignment on their next game against the Los Angeles Clippers.
With Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and Jamal Crawford leading the charge, the Clippers are a force to reckon with and LeBron James and company will certainly have their hands full on Thursday, February 5 at the Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland’s home floor.
If they get past by the Clippers, the next two games would be easy, as the Cavs would go up against the still Paul George-less Indiana Pacers and the Kobe-Bryant-less Los Angeles Lakers, making the 14th straight win very realistic, details Yahoo! News from an AP report.
They have to get past first with the Clippers and just breeze through the Pacers and the Lakers to set the new franchise record for the longest winning streak.
The Cavaliers triumvirate hitting on all cylinders
The trio of LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love has been hitting on all cylinders in Cleveland’s last six or seven games and they’re the ones responsible for the complete turnaround in the win-loss record of the team.
Prior to the 11-game winning streak, Cleveland was sporting a 19-20 win-loss record, which was below the top half of playoff bound teams in the East. But with the streak, the Cavs are now just a half-game behind the fourth placed Chicago Bulls which is sporting a 30-19 record.
In the game against the Sixers, Kyrie Iriving paced the Cavaliers in scoring with 24 points, five assists, and five rebounds. He was ably backstopped by LeBron’s 18 points to go with his 11 assists, another double-double effort for the King.
Kevin Love was a monster in the frontline; grabbing 15 rebounds while Matthew Dellavedova, the Australian reserve guard of Cleveland, and newly-acquired J.R. Smith, contributing 12 points each for a well-balanced scoring.
The loss is the seventh straight defeat for the Sixers, dropping to a 10-39 record, only a half-game behind the struggling New York Knicks which is sporting a 10-38 win-loss slate, the worst in the NBA.