Cavs at Lakers preview and gamethread

Cavs and Lakers meet for the final time this season.

The Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers will battle on the final night of 2024. Jackson Flickinger and Chris Manning will watch this NYE’s game live on Playback, starting at 9 PM.

Who: Cleveland Cavaliers (27-4) at Los Angeles Lakers (18-13)

Where: Crypto Arena – Los Angeles, CA

When: 9:00 p.m., Tuesday – Dec. 31

TV: Fanduel Sports Network Ohio (previously Bally Sports), NBA League Pass

Line: Cavs -5.5

Cavs injury report: Not yet submitted

Lakers injury report: LeBron James – QUESTIONABLE (illness), Anthony Davis – QUESTIONABLE (ankle), Jarred Vanderbilt – OUT (foot), Gabe Vincent – QUESTIONABLE (oblique strain), Jalen Hood-Schafino – OUT (hamstring), Chrsitan Wood – OUT (knee)

Any meeting between LeBron James and the Cavaliers is notable. This being his first game since turning 40 years old on Monday and the final game of 2024 just adds to the dramatic flare. James is questionable to play tonight but we can assume he’ll do everything in his power to be available for this marquee matchup.

James is averaging 23.5 points, 9.0 assists and 7.9 rebounds. His longevity can not be overstated. For his career, James averages 28.3 points against the Cavaliers. We’ll see how much gas he still has in the tank now that he’s left his 30s in the rearview mirror.

As for the Cavaliers, it’s been all gas no brakes since the start of the current season. They’ve obliterated opponents on their way to a 28-4 record. The Cavs have won seven straight games, each by double-digits. Their dominant win over the Golden State Warriors last night allowed them to rest their starting five and ensure fresh legs on the second game of a back-to-back.

The Lakers’ defense will have its hands full trying to contain the Cavaliers’ three-point shooting. Cleveland nearly became the first team in NBA history to make 20+ three-pointers in five consecutive games (they finished with 18 last night). Meanwhile, the Lakers rank 18th in Defensive Rating. Another hot shooting night from the Cavs could end this game well-before midnight.

If you want to watch games with us — either tonight or in the future — it’s super easy to sign up:

• First, head over to playback.tv and create an account with your email address
• Then connect and select your NBA League Pass login as your streaming account (sign up for League Pass here first if you don’t have it)
• After that, go to https://www.playback.tv/fearthesword and hit the JOIN button
• Finally, make sure to activate push notifications so you know when we’re going live!

You can join in on all of the action HERE. You can also listen in right here on FTS in the player below.