Cleveland Cavaliers odds: Predicting round 2 vs the Mavericks vs the spread
The Cleveland Cavaliers will travel to Dallas to take on the Dallas Mavericks for the second time this season. Which team will cover the spread?
After a more than promising start, it has been a return to reality for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Coming into the season, hopes weren’t high for this Cavalier team to contend for a playoff spot. After the first two weeks of the 2019-20 NBA season, however, water finds it’s level and it appears the same is true for the Cavaliers as they have dropped their last five contests.
Only one of those five losses have been close and that’s a bad sign. Even when Cleveland would lose a game early in the season, it was competitive. In their last four losses, the Cavaliers have been outscored by a combined score of 469 to 397. Their record now stands at 4-10 on the season.
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Things don’t get any easier tonight as the Cavaliers will travel to Dallas to take on Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks.
The Action Network currently has the line set for this matchup as Cleveland +10 and a whopping 76% of the action has come in on the favored Mavericks.
In the first contest against the Mavericks, Cleveland kept it close until through three quarters until Dallas went on a monster run in the fourth quarter and ended up closing the Cavs out with a 131-111 score.
Like everyone else in the league in the early stages of this season, Cleveland didn’t have an answer for Doncic and he had a triple-double through three quarters.
The biggest concern heading into tonight’s contest is the fact that Cleveland was playing relatively well at the time of their first contest, that is not the case as of right now. This contest could get out of hand fast, quick, and in a hurry.
While Cavaliers starting small forward, Cedi Osman, has been pretty solid defensively this season, he is going to have to put on quite a performance to slow down the juggernaut that is Doncic. Per Basketball-Reference, for the season, Doncic has per-game averages of 29.9 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 9.4 assists. He is at the forefront of the MVP conversation and deservedly so.
The bet – Dallas Mavericks -10
Not only is this game on the road, but Dallas has been pretty solid this season. We have yet to mention Kristaps Porzingis who according to Basketball-Reference is averaging 18.2 points, 9 rebounds, and 2.2 blocks on what has been a disappointing start to the season for him.
He is, however, a matchup nightmare with his size, length, and skill. Tristan Thompson is the Cavaliers’ best bet at slowing him down, but he is giving up a lot size in that matchup.
In the first matchup between these two teams, Porzingis posted 18 points, 9 rebounds, and a whopping 6 blocked shots on 7-of-14 shooting. The Cavaliers will need to limit one of Porzingis or Doncic in order to have any shot in this contest.
It’s obvious that coach John Beilein isn’t happy with some of his starters. In their last game, against the Miami Heat, he benched all three of Darius Garland, Collin Sexton, and Cedi Osman to start the second half. Their effort on the defensive end, and defending the perimeter in particular, was an issue that simply can’t happen again tonight or their starting spots could be in jeopardy.
Sexton also needs to limit his dominance of the basketball. He is a wonderful scorer but his ball-dominant style takes the rest of the team out of rhythm on the offensive end. He needs to move the basketball at a higher rate to keep the entire team involved.
Even if the Cavs are able to limit Doncic or Porzingis they will have a tough time covering tonight as Dallas is just a far superior team. The smart gambling play is on the Mavericks, even though they are giving 10 points.
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