The Cleveland Cavaliers begin a five-game road trip against the Phoenix Suns.
It was not a great outing for the Cleveland Cavaliers Saturday as they lost to the Milwaukee Bucks at home, but they will be looking to change their fortunes as they head out on the road to take on the Phoenix Suns. It will be a matchup of two teams heading in opposite directions as the Cavs are 3-7 in their past 10 games and the Suns are 6-4.
Cleveland has a negative scoring differential on the season at -6.4 while Phoenix sits at 2.6. The surprising Suns are led by Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton, and Mikal Bridges. Booker leads the Suns in scoring with 22.8 points per game while Paul, Bridges, and Ayton average 16.4, 14.1, and 14 respectively. Paul is far and away the assist leader for Phoenix as he averages 8.2 per game. Ayton is the leading rebounder with 12.7, including 3.7 offensive boards per game.
The Cavaliers are going to have to hope everything comes together just right as it will be a tough contest from start to finish. Larry Nance Jr.’s absence will only make things a bit more difficult as he will be out for up to six weeks. This will result in Taurean Prince and Cedi Osman playing more prominent roles for Cleveland. Prince has been playing better than expected while Osman continue this mixed bag performances.
Cleveland will need to lean on Collin Sexton and Darius Garland to make their offense work. If SexLand can get going it can make things a bit easier for everyone else. Things become open for players which should give them a good chance to score. If not, a third straight double-digit loss could be in their future.
