Cavaliers Look To Slow Down High-Scoring Celtics

The Cleveland Cavaliers are looking for their fourth-straight win Friday night when they take on the Boston Celtics. With a win, the Cavaliers would be off to their best five-game start since 2016-17 when the Wine and Gold started 5-0.

Cleveland is coming off a 103-92 win over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night in which all five starters put up double figures. Wednesday night also saw a change in the starting lineup as Dean Wade was inserted into the starting five and Isaac Okoro came off the bench.

The Celtics have been idle since Monday after dropping their first contest of the season to the Chicago Bulls 120-102.

Defense vs. Offense

The Cavs rank 2nd in the NBA this season in opponent points per game (100.8) and rank 6th in opponent field goal percentage (.438). They held the Magic to under 100 points Wednesday night while suffocating Orlando as they shot 25-percent from three point range.

Cleveland has won all three games on its current winning streak by double-digits and hasn't surrendered more than 108 points so far this season.

Enter Boston, who comes into Friday night with one of the league's most potent offenses. The Celtics have scored 117 points or more in three of their first four games and rank third in the NBA in offensive rating.

Jayson Tatum leads the Celtics averaging 32.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, while Jaylen Brown is scoring 24.0 points per night.

Boston led the league defensively last year, holding opponents to less than 105 points per game and NBA-lows of 33-percent shooting from 3-point range but has not been able to match those numbers so far this season.

Their opponents are scoring 115 points per game and shooting 47 percent from the field.

Another Milestone for Jarrett Allen?

In Wednesday night's victory of the Magic, Jarret Allen pulled down his 3,000th-career rebound. Allen is the only active NBA player 25 or younger with 3,000 career rebounds.

Big Jay was a force in the second half against the Magic as Bickerstaff challenged his team to be better at both ends of the floor. Allen spurred the turnaround in the second half, scoring 18 points and pulling down 16 rebounds.

JA is also one point shy of 4,000 points for this career.

"I guess I'm just locked in to the moment and do the best that I can," Allen said. "At the end of the day, looking back, if I see something cool like that, it's nice."

Darius Garland Ruled Out

Point Guard Darius Garland will miss his fourth-straight game as he continues to recover from an eye injury.

Garland was listed as OUT on the team's official injury report as submitted by the team's medical staff on Thursday with a left eye laceration.

Garland was poked in the eye by Gary Trent Jr. in the Cavs opening-night loss to the Raptors. He remained on the floor for several minutes in front of the Raptors bench surrounded by teammates and medical personnel before leaving the floor.

Bickerstaff said Garland is able to see out of the eye and the team announced there was no structural damage. Garland will be fitted with protective eyewear before he returns and Bickerstaff said he would like Garland to practice before playing.

No Williams and Williams For Boston

While the Cavaliers will be missing Darius Garland, the Celtics will also be without a pair of key contributors.

Grant Williams is serving a one-game suspension for marking contact with an official. He was ejected from Monday night's loss to the Bulls and will miss the game with the Cavs.

The 23-year-old inadvertently made contact with an official in the fourth quarter of the game after being called for a shooting foul. Williams jumped up off the floor and looked to be running off some steam, but bumped a referee in doing so.

The Celtics are already thin in the front court as Robert Williams is still recovering from offseason knee surgery.

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