NBA teams
Amin Elhassan, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Cavs coming together quickly

NBA

The Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers will do battle Thursday night, giving us a possible NBA Finals preview. With the exception of a couple of hiccups, the Warriors have played near-flawless basketball from the jump, posting a 44-10 record and outscoring opponents by a league-leading 12 points per 100 possessions by virtue of being the best defense and second-best offense in the league.

By contrast, Cleveland's season has been anything but smooth sailing, with issues arising almost immediately, as they struggled to assimilate Kevin Love, and were seemingly not on the same page with coach David Blatt.

However, the midseason trades that brought in Timofey Mozgov, J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert have provided the necessary shot in the arm, along with LeBron James' midseason rejuvenation after an eight-game hiatus, boosting the Cavs to a 17-3 mark in their last 20 games.

During that stretch, the Cavs have led the NBA in net rating, outscoring opponents by 11 points per 100 possessions (one point better than the Warriors' mark during that same stretch).

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