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This season, Cleveland will have 16 sets of back-to-backs, a trio of four-game homestands, a lengthy six-game road trip (March 9-18), four holiday games (Halloween, Veterans Day, New Year’s Eve and MLK Day) and five matinees. James comes to Cleveland with the Sixers twice (Nov. 6 and March 1) this season. The Cavs pursued him in free agency this summer, hoping for a third stint with the franchise that drafted him No. 1 overall in 2003. Former Cavalier Darius Garland will return to Cleveland for the first time since being traded for James Harden last February, with that visit scheduled for Dec. 31. The Western Conference Champion San Antonio Spurs visit for the only time on Dec. 15.
Law Murray: For the second time in six seasons, the LA Clippers will have a back-to-back involving the USA-Canada border on New Year’s Eve and New Year Day. Clippers at Cleveland on December 31; Clippers at Toronto on January 1
Jared Weiss: Mitch Johnson says that new Spurs 10-day signing Mason Plumlee won’t play in the team’s two games in Austin this week as the team implements its ramp up plan to get him ready as he recovers from a groin surgery he had on New Year’s Eve. No clarity on if he will be ready to play during this initial 10-day deal, but his former team, the Hornets, said he would be reevaluated at the 6-week mark and he has now passed that point.
For all the star power and headliners that the NBA has, there isn’t nearly enough appreciation for the glue guys. In his sophomore season as a pro, Oso Ighodaro is showing that he can be that player for the Phoenix Suns. “He just connects,” Suns head coach Jordan Ott told R.org in his pregame press conference in Cleveland on New Year’s Eve. “He just kinda fills some gaps. We often forget it’s only his second year. Oso’s been great.” Hearing Ott’s praise, Ighodaro cracked a smile and provided his definition of a connector. “Somebody that gets other people involved, just keeps the action continuous, just doesn’t let the ball die,” Ighodaro told R.org in an exclusive interview. “If he’s saying that, that’s probably good. It’s a good indicator. But yeah, I think that’s something I take pride in.”
Brandon Rahbar: Thunder improve to 28-5. 16-1 at home. 6-0 vs the East. SGA: 39 PTS/15-24 FG/2 STL Chet: 24 PTS/2-4 3PT/4 BLK JDub: 20 PTS/9 REB/7 AST/1 STL/1 BLK Wallace: 17 PTS/5-6 3PT/2 STL Caruso: 16 PTS/2-2 3PT/9 REB/2 STL Next up: Blazers in OKC on New Year's Eve.
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Ryan Blackburn: Tonight, Denver plays Charlotte, on a 10-game losing streak, playing their 4th game on a 6 game road trip. They had the last 2 nights off and probably spent New Year's Eve in Denver. LaMelo Ball and Gordon Hayward are out. Terry Rozier is questionable. Mark Williams is doubtful.
Mann is the starter now. The front office is not likely to part with him, and there is belief that Mann could be the team’s starting point guard beyond this season, a team source told The Athletic. But Mann is a player that Lue ideally sees as a small forward, and who was out of Lue’s first half rotation as recently as New Year’s Eve at Indiana. Lue prefers to keep a traditional point guard in the rotation. Which leads to…
As expected, the Nets will be without Joe Harris for a fourth straight game when he misses the New Year’s Eve tilt against the Hornets on Saturday night. Harris has been back in Brooklyn nursing a sore left knee and hasn’t played since the Dec. 21 rout of the defending champion Warriors. “He’ll stay at home, rejoin us [in Brooklyn]. Hopefully, we’ll assess him when we get back,” coach Jacque Vaughn said. “But he will not play Charlotte, so no need to fly him. Just thinking it through, keep them there, see what happens in these next three days.”
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One Net for whom Christmas isn’t a big deal is forward Yuta Watanabe, a native of Kagawa, Japan. In his tradition, New Year’s Eve through Jan. 2 is much more significant. “The biggest holiday in Japan is New Year,” Watanabe told The Post. “We do have Christmas, but it’s not as big. Christmas is not like a family thing in Japan. It’s more for couples. And then New Year’s is for family, [so] that’s a lot different. “…I’ve been here for like 10 years now. That means I’ve missed the last 10 years [of] New Year’s family gatherings, so I missed that. … But I always, always FaceTime them. Talk to grandma, uncle, my cousins, obviously parents. So I’m going to do it this year, too.”
Shaq is throwing an appropriately large New Year’s Eve event in the VR world. Retired NBA great Shaquille O’Neal will host “The Shaq-tacular Spectacular,” an immersive VR countdown special featuring guest spots from Cardi B, Killer Mike, Ludacris, Lil Yachty, Rob Gronkowski and Camille Kostek.
Lin became a symbol of changing stereotypes about Asians, not through activism but because he was trying to stick in the NBA — even after nights like that dreadful New Year’s Eve in Sacramento. It was a night so brutal that Lin’s agent had a message for him. “I’m going to start calling these teams in Italy, because that’s where you’re going to be,” Roger Montgomery, Lin’s agent recalled. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I was upset. I was mad.”
Jordan scored 50 or more points an astonishing 30 times in his career. DeRozan isn’t Jordan. But his ability to lift up this season’s Bulls at some of their lowest points is the stuff of greatness. From his back-to-back, buzzer-beating 3-pointers on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day to this epic outing, DeRozan is authoring one of the greatest individual seasons in franchise history. “The win is more meaningful,” DeRozan said. “I just wanted to win this game badly. You see how tight the race is. Every single game is extremely important. We have no more room to be dropping any more games. That’s just my mentality.”