(My Sportsbook) - The
Cleveland Cavaliers have been awfully difficult to beat as of late. Defeating the team on its home court has been an even tougher task for an opponent during the course of this season.
The Minnesota Timberwolves will be the latest to try to topple the Cavs at Quicken Loans Arena, where Cleveland will attempt to build on its sensational 33-1 record in tonight's matchup.
The Cavaliers are riding a 10-game overall winning streak as well, which the current Eastern Conference leaders extended with Wednesday's 98-87 decision over visiting New Jersey. LeBron James once again led the way for Cleveland, as the MVP candidate racked up 22 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds.
James had plenty of help from his teammates on Wednesday. Anderson Varejao compiled 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Mo Williams each contributed 16 points as well to help the Cavaliers improve to an NBA- best 18-2 since the All-Star break.
Cleveland is in terrific position to seize home-court advantage for the upcoming Eastern Conference playoffs. With just 11 contests remaining in the regular season, the Cavs own a five-game cushion over defending world champ Boston for the top spot.
Minnesota doesn't appear to be much of a threat to ending Cleveland's current roll. The Timberwolves have dropped six straight and 17 of its last 19 outings and are a poor 10-26 as the road team for the season.
In addition, Minnesota has lost eight in a row as the visitor following Wednesday's 96-88 setback at Philadelphia.
Former Sixer Rodney Carney nailed seven three-pointers en route to a 21-point effort that paced the T-Wolves in Wednesday's loss, while Craig Smith finished with 20 points on the night.
Randy Foye and Ryan Gomes, two of Minnesota's top three scorers, combined for only 15 points on 3-of-21 shooting. The duo is averaging 16.3 and 13.1 points per game, respectively, for the season.
The Timberwolves also haven't had much success in this series recently. Cleveland has won six consecutive meetings with Minnesota, including a 93-70 rout in Minneapolis on December 17. The Cavaliers haven't lost to the Wolves since a 89-85 defeat in Cleveland on November 26, 2005.