Cleveland Cavaliers at Philadelphia 76ers gamethread

The Cavs are back in action against an MVP candidate.

The main attraction for the Cavs’ Saturday night showdown against the 76ers is Jarrett Allen and the collective team defense against Joel Embiid. Embiid is a legit MVP candidate who has a potent face-up game, can post-up and will make Allen work for the entire game. Allen is very good, but this is different type of matchup than a Rockets team playing small and Al Horford.

This is also the Cavs’ third to last game before the first half of the NBA season ends. This is probably the toughest game left — Cleveland gets Houston on Monday and Indiana on Wednesday. And if the Cavs could win this one, it’d be a third-straight win and really help the team build some positive momentum coming out of the 10-game losing streak. Even a competitive, frisky performance would help in that regard.

EXPECTED STARTERS:

Cavs: Darius Garland / Collin Sexton / Isaac Okoro / Dean Wade / Jarrett Allen

76ers: Ben Simmons / Seth Curry / Danny Green / Mike Scott / Joel Embiid