NBA 2018-19: Predicted Starting Lineups and Match Prediction - Portland Trail Blazers vs Cleveland Cavaliers
The Portland Trail Blazers are on a two-game win streak and will travel to Cleveland to take on the hapless Cavaliers. The Cavs are having one of their worst seasons in a long time, thanks to LeBron James' departure. Their match against the Blazers will be their second and last meeting this regular season.
Match Details:
Portland Trail Blazers (36-23) vs Cleveland Cavaliers (14-46)
When: 26th February 2019, 5:30 AM IST
Where: Quicken Loans Arena
The Portland Trail Blazers' perspective
The Portland Trail Blazers started their seven-game road trip with two wins and are high on confidence right now. This road trip will be very important as they try to move up in the Western Conference standings. They have a really good chance of going past Oklahoma City Thunder to clinch the third spot.
In their last game, Jusuf Nurkic scored 24 points, to go along with 10 rebounds for a double-double and carried them home. The Blazers have a really good roster that can definitely cause some trouble the opposition teams in the playoffs later this year.
Predicted Portland Trail Blazers' starting line-up:
Maurice Harkless (F), Al-Farouq Aminu (F), Jusuf Nurkic (C), CJ McCollum (G) and Damian Lillard (G)
The Cleveland Cavaliers' perspective
The Cavs are out of playoffs contention and are just waiting for the regular season to come to an end. However, they picked up impressive wins in their last two games and will host a really good Blazers team.
With Kevin Love back in the starting lineup, they are definitely going to perform a lot different than they have performed for the most part this season. Tristan Thompson has been out for more than four weeks due to a foot injury and is expected to miss out against the Blazers.
Predicted Cleveland Cavaliers' starting line-up:
Kevin Love (F), Cedi Osman (F), Ante Zizic (C), Brandon Knight (G) and Collin Sexton (G)
How the things might unfold
The Blazers have a really good team that has been winning a lot of games this season. They are also playoffs-bound and should walk away with the win without any problems. However, do not expect the game to be one-sided as Kevin Love has returned to the team and the Cavs are definitely going to fight it out. They also have their young rookie guard Collin Sexton who has been impressive so far.
Prediction:
Portland Trail Blazers to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers.