The Celtics (30-10) will face the Cavs (24-12) on Wednesday at home in the TD Garden. This is the first time the two teams have seen each other since opening night, where the Celtics lost their star forward Gordon Hayward to a season ending injury and lost the game 99-102. All who watched the game that night were horrified by the injury, some went as far as blaming Crowder for the injury. If you re-watch the tape you can see Hayward beat former Celtic Crowder backdoor and Lebron came from the weak side to contest the alley-op. However, on closer inspection it looks like Crowder gave Hayward a little hip check as he was in the air knocking him off balance. If you watched the entire game you would have also noticed how chippy Crowder was playing.

The big issue some Celtics fans have had is the fact that Crowder said he felt disrespected by the possibility they might replace him with Hayward during the 2017 off season. Not saying it was intentional, but it sure felt like he was playing with a chip on his shoulder.

Next up is IT who will not be playing tomorrow night according to Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue. IT definitely has a chip on his shoulder and is dying to play his former team after sharing his feelings of betrayal after getting traded at the end of last season. He wore his heart on his sleeve last year and was one of the best scoring point guards in the league with 28.9 points per game. Boston definitely still loves him, but does he still love Boston? IT has rejected Boston's attempt to show a tribute video for him because he will not be playing.

Now on to Lebron and Kyrie. Definitley one of the highest profile all-star break ups we have seen recently in the NBA. Lebron is having an amazing year both offensively and defensively averaging close to a triple double! So far he is definitely front runner for league MVP. Both Kyrie and Lebron are playing better without each other. Kyrie is having an amazing year both offensively and defensively believe it or not. He has mentioned how much he craved playing for a "intellectual mind" referring to Celtics head coach Brad Stevens. This definitely sounded like a shot at his form coach Tyronn Lue, but it is hard to tell whether Kyrie is just rambling or actually taking shots.

Finally, the preview and prediction. The Celtics are one of the youngest teams in the NBA, which makes their current record even more astonishing. However, they have recently lost games to the Jazz, Heat, Knick and Wizards, showing signs of weakness and poor decision making at times, but you can never count them out as long as Marcus Smart is on the floor. If the Celtics play strong, good defense and shoot the 3 ball well they will be very difficult to beat at home. The Cavs on the other hand have been slumping as of late losing games to the Bucks, Warriors, Kings and Jazz. One of their best defensive players in Iman Shumpert will likely be out nursing a knee injury, but the Cavs are so deep this likely wont have a huge impact on the outcome of the game. A snapshot of the last ten match-ups of these two teams gives the edge to Cleveland with a record of 8-2 over Boston.

Vegas spreads are not out yet, but I am predicting a Celtics win being a -1 or -2 point favorite. Final score 102-98