Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Phoenix Suns: Preview, Predictions and Stats

Martin Luther King Day is celebrated today in the United States. It is paying homage to one of the most transcendent personalities in the history of the 20th century. But also a good handful of matches at the right European time. The Cavs-Suns squeeze into this strip with Phoenix on a roller coaster (now on top) and the Cavaliers as the best team in the NBA despite suffering some recent bumps.

Date and time of the Cavaliers vs. Suns

Date: January 20, 2025 US time, early morning of the 21st in Spain.

Hour: These are the start times for Cavaliers vs. Suns according to time zone.

Seat: Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (Cleveland, Ohio).

Quintets of the Cavaliers against. Suns

Evan Mobley is out again for the Cavaliers due to his calf issues.

Latest Cavaliers news: Injuries and form

Those of Cleveland appear with the losses of Evan Mobley and Isaac Okoro, who should return next Wednesday 22.

To say that the Cavaliers have suffered two losses in the last week and a half is newsworthy. The first, against the Pacers, the result of a specific error and the defensive improvement of the Indiana team. The second, in the rematch against OKC, because facing them was a team that, most nights, was inaccessible and didn’t even allow them to flex the muscles they had flexed seven days before.

Nothing worrying for the team with the best record in the league. What’s tricky to some extent is the defensive decline the team has suffered recently. Which is even more obvious in the absence of Mobley.

The Cavaliers’ big improvement lies in the way they transformed their offense. Much more versatile, faster and focused on the external threat. However, its territory will always be to take advantage of its two greats as a defensive bastion. It is therefore appropriate to focus our attention on their 15th place in defensive efficiency over the last fifteen matches.

Player to watch: Jarret Allen

Without Mobley, the offense is simplified and relies much more on Allen’s pick-and-roll. Whether alongside Garland or Mitchell. The Suns have a clear interior deficit, with Mason Plumlee as the starting center and newcomer Nick Richards as the backup. Allen is an expert at amplifying these weak points without making them barely noticeable.

Latest news for the Suns: injuries and form

Bradley Beal, who missed the last game, could return tonight. Jusuf Nurkic will remain out for at least a few more days.

Phoenix is ​​one of the disappointments of the season and, just as they seem to find a thread to pull, the ball discovers a new knot. Beal’s time on the bench has to some extent solved his defensive problems and the distribution of roles on offense. Ryan Dunn is a very good defender due to his size and conditions, as well as a neat shooter. But the Suns need more to be a team and not a sum of individuals.

Devin Booker has improved his level and Kevin Durant is still Kevin Durant. In fact, Arizona remains extremely dependent on the two-time Finals MVP on both ends of the court. If he doesn’t have the day in the home stretch, it seems impossible to add a victory to Mike Budenholzer’s team.

Signing Nick Richards does not address their weakness internally and in P&R defense.

Player to watch: Devin Booker

If he can combine a lot of possessions with Darius Garland, this could be a big night for Booker. The guard has raised his level considerably in recent weeks after a start to the campaign in which he was accused of a lack of leadership. He is averaging 27.6 points and 7.5 assists in the last ten games.

Cavaliers vs. Suns: history of confrontations

First Cavaliers-Suns, or vice versa, of the season. In recent times, these are teams that tend to leave their rival blank in the few confrontations that pass through them each season. Even if, in history, Phoenix dominates Ohio 71-50. It’s also 7-3 for them in the last ten games.

Cavaliers versus Suns predictions

Bookers Series. The shooter has accumulated five games scoring 30 or more points. This is his longest streak of the season (the previous one was two consecutive games) and the longest since he chained 7 in January 2020. Will he be able to maintain it?

Weakened benches. Caris LeVert will start and for the Suns, Beal is a doubt and Nurkic is out. The Cavaliers have some wardrobe depth to solve it, but Phoenix has full confidence in its second unit in Grayson Allen and Nick Richards, who had strong debuts against Detroit. Both are among the ten best benches in the competition.

The Suns middle distance. No team shoots more from midrange than the Phoenix Suns. Between Booker and Durant alone, they shoot almost 9 times from this forbidden zone. 22% of his total shooting range comes from the mid zones, between 3 and 7 yards.

Where to watch Cavaliers vs. Suns

The match between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Phoenix Suns can be seen in Spain through the NBA League Pass subscription.

(Cover photo: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images)