The Golden State Warriors will face a Cleveland Cavaliers team that will barely resemble any of the ones that have made the NBA Finals four straight times tonight at 7:30 p.m.
In addition to losing their Hollywood mogul this past offseason, the lottery-bound Cavs will be without so-called Steph Curry stopper Matthew Dellavedova, John Henson, and Kevin Love of Klay Thompson trade rumor fame, according to a tweet from Rusty Simmons earlier today.
As expected, DeMarcus Cousins, who isn’t playing back-to-backs while returning from an Achilles injury, and Andre Iguodala (left toe soreness) are listed as “out” for tonight’s game between the Warriors and Cleveland. Dellavedova, Henson, Love and JR Smith are out for the Cavs.
— Rusty Simmons (@Rusty_SFChron) April 5, 2019
Meanwhile, the Warriors will continue trying to move closer to clinching first place in the Western Conference with DeMarcus Cousins taking an expected day off due to the back-to-back and Andre Iguodala sitting out again with a sore toe.
As Nick Friedell of ESPN reported yesterday, Kerr won’t aggressively rest players again until they clinch that top seed first ... and, of course, with less than a handful of games left and being only two games up on the Denver Nuggets, that could be the duration of the season depending on how things play out.
Kerr is hopeful to get his core guys some rest in the last couple games of the season if and when the Warriors close out the top spot in the Western Conference. Cousins (rest) and Iguodala (toe) will not play Friday night vs. Cavs.
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) April 5, 2019
Anyway, feel free to offer your thoughts on the matchup or your observations of the game as it happens.