NBA Matchups: Christmas Day

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! I wrote today’s matchups Christmas Eve morning before the injury reports came out, so I’m flying blind on a lot of it. I’ll try to pop back in later today to get some updates in. I hope you guys all enjoy the next two days!

CLE @ NYK | SAS @ OKC | DAL @ GSW | HOU @ LAL | MIN @ DEN

Cleveland Cavaliers at New York Knicks

Team Totals:

Injury Report:

Cavs projected starters: Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Sam Merrill, Dean Wade, Jarrett Allen

Knicks projected starters: Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart, OG Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns

Atkinson quotes: Said starting Merrill was part of the scout process and he also liked Tyson off the bench, said DG was iffy to play and he did some work in the pool on Tuesday afternoon, said Bryant gave them some good minutes, said they were better on the boards but they still had some slippage, said it’s good that they are turning down some 3-pointers and he really wants them to attack the basket, said having Merrill back is just another body that helps them slot their guys better in the rotation.

Brown quotes: Said the Wolves were very aggressive with them and it led to a lot of turnovers, said playing some of the new lineups could’ve led to so many mistakes, said the Wolves were blowing up so many of their DHOs, said KAT “is a walking double-double” and the 40 and 13 “doesn’t surprise me at all,” said Kolek “was good in spurts” after he struggled initially, said they needed more out of Kolek defensively.

Stats and Notes: 

*The Cavs have some major defensive issues right now, and it’s been them getting crushed at the rim lately. They’ve also been more vulnerable in transition, but they have been OK at limiting 3-point volume. The Knicks are a heavy C&S 3PA team, but they do not run much to not maximize how poorly the Cavs are playing on defense right now. Still, I would expect the Knicks to have a lot of success with their offense. For the Knicks on defense, they are still a huge paint-packing team, as they give up the highest 3PA C&S frequency in the league. Mike Brown will not be changing his ways, and this may be one of those games where Kenny Atkinson may have to live with the high-volume 3PA stuff the Cavs were doing for most of this season.

*Donovan Mitchell loves MSG, and he gets a favorable matchup against Mikal Bridges. In the opener this season against Mikal (without Darius Garland, with Evan Mobley), he had a 31/2/5 line. Mitchell has lost some of his handling role to Garland, but there’s no doubt that he’ll be trying to carry his team in a hometown game. Additionally, there is a chance that OG Anunoby guards him, and OG guarded Mitchell in April last year, but Mitchell still cooked with 27 points in just 26 minutes during a blowout win (it’s generally been Mikal).

*As mentioned, Darius Garland has picked up a stronger role with 18.6 drives per game over his last five to rank sixth in the NBA despite just 32.4 minutes per game. He did have a minor quad issue, but that looked resolved on Tuesday despite a poor game against the Pelicans. Atkinson seems confident that Garland is back on track, and he will get a somewhat favorable matchup (especially if OG is on Mitchell). I like this for Garland.

*Besides the two lead guards, the only other guy who is exciting is Sam Merrill with his 3-point volume. Although you’d think that the Cavs would go back to Jaylon Tyson for the Jalen Brunson matchup, unless they want to put Dean Wade on Brunson (it could happen). If Merrill starts, he’s very interesting here. I’d have some interest in Tyson as a starter, too.