The Washington Wizards will meet the Cleveland Cavaliers tonight in an NBA 2014 game that will be live streaming online FREE from the Quicken Loans Arena at 6:00 PM ET
A week ago, Kyrie Irving earned All-Star game MVP honors, while Eastern Conference teammate John Wall's soaring display highlighted the Slam Dunk Contest. Irving and Wall, two of the NBA's best young guards, find themselves matched up against each other tonight.
Irving and the Cavs look to bounce back from their first loss in two weeks Sunday night when they host Wall and the Wizards.
The considerable talents of Irving and Wall were evident last weekend in New Orleans during All Star weekend.
Irving scored 31 points on 14 of 17 from the field to help the East to a 163-155 victory in the All-Star game, joining LeBron James as the only Cavaliers to win the MVP award. That came a day after Wall helped the East win the Slam Dunk Contest, delivering a reverse slam after leaping over the Wizards' mascot.
Now, Irving is more concerned with helping the Cavaliers (22-34) rebound from Friday's 98-91 loss at Toronto, ending their six-game winning streak which was the team's longest in nearly four years. A sluggish third quarter proved costly, as Cleveland allowed 37 points while the Raptors connected on 16 of 23 field goals.
"I feel like we've got to get better at stopping other teams' runs, just taking a stance at both ends of the floor," Irving said. "Especially when we come out flat and our offense isn't going, we've just got to rely on our defense. In the six wins we had, we've done that. This was the first night we kind of let it get away from us."
Irving missed 13 of 16 attempts from the floor while finishing with 17 points and nine assists Friday, but he could be in for a bounce-back performance against the Wizards (27-28).
Cleveland has won five of the past six meetings, and Irving has averaged 29.4 points in five of them. He had 23 points and 12 assists in a 115-113 victory at Washington on Feb. 7 to begin the Cavaliers' recent winning streak.
He did his part in the most recent home matchup Nov. 20, scoring 28 points while the rest of the starters totaled eight in a 98-91 loss.
Wall, though, averages 20.8 points and 11.8 assists in his past five meetings with the Cavaliers, tallying 32 and 10 against them earlier this month.
He came up big Saturday, driving the lane before dishing off to Nene for a thunderous go-ahead dunk with 0.9 seconds left in regulation for a 94-93 win over New Orleans.
"I just prayed," said Nene, who tied his season high with 30 points. "I wanted to finish with the ball in my hands. They put the ball into my hands. John, he did amazing, penetration right there, he found me right there."
The game will be telecast regionally on Fox Sports of Ohio while it will be live streaming online for free at nbaliveonline.tv/streaming/
