The Cleveland Cavaliers have the answered the bell here a little bit after a nightmarish 10-game losing streak, in what was their toughest stretch of games this season, though, and have won three straight.
Cleveland beat the Atlanta Hawks and Houston Rockets, albeit they are mightily struggling themselves currently, and then the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday. Philadelphia was without the likes of Tobias Harris (right knee contusion), though, but either way, the Wine and Gold had an impressive overtime W in Philly then.
And Darius Garland had a career-high 25 points, thanks to 11 in OT, and nine assists. Plus, Isaac Okoro, who has had less hesitation lately offensively in the scoring sense, had a career-best 15 points, to go with eight rebounds (five being offensive), three assists and three steals, too.
Anyhow, the Cavs have two outings left before the league’s upcoming All-Star break, with Monday being at the Rockets, and them hosting the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday. And with them getting things going here it seems with some momentum, the Wine and Gold should keep things going it appears on Monday.
The Cavs are in great position to keep their winning mojo going at Houston on Monday.
The Rockets are a club that’s really reeling right now, and although I’d expect to come out with a far better effort offensively than in their outing on Sunday versus the Memphis Grizzlies in what was a thrashing 133-84, and one when Houston hit four-of-45 from three, the Cavs should be in a nice spot here.
Darius Garland should be able to get the ball hopping, I would think, and I’d expect Collin Sexton to do what he does scoring-wise, and with Christian Wood still sidelined, Jarrett Allen should be able to do a ton of damage on the interior. He did so in the last meeting between these two on Wednesday, for further context.
And even though Victor Oladipo being set to be in action in this one after being out due to rest/injury maintenance in Houston’s first leg of its back-to-back Sunday should help Houston, I would imagine, the Cavs have been moving it better offensively.
I’d expect the Cavaliers, who are getting Taurean Prince back in this one (left ankle soreness), to again keep spreading it around, and get some productive ball-swings throughout this game and/or some good looks via relocation. And hopefully, as they did the last time versus Houston, they’ll be able to clean the glass and get out for some easy ones for Sexton, perhaps Isaac Okoro/Dylan Windler and company.
Windler in this one should have ample opportunities to have an impact here, too, with Cedi Osman out of the lineup again, the Rockets having off-ball issues of late defensively it seems, and with Windler having gained some momentum it appears heading toward the All-Star break.
The Cavs have been getting him some better looks from the perimeter off of movement, which has allowed Windler to get in-rhythm more. Plus he’s continued to aid them in the rebounding department, too, as evidenced by him having a solid 4.2 boards per outing off the bench in his past five games active.
Additionally, I’d think that Lamar Stevens could again have a solid outing here, and once again make his presence felt defensively on-ball with his versatility there, and we could feasibly see him fit right in against Houston’s small-ball approach. Stevens, even as a two-way player, has really started to figure things out defensively, and has been a capable driver at times, to go with being a mid-range pull-up threat, too.
And lastly, in regards to the betting element for this one, according to The Action Network at this point, Houston is set to be favored narrowly. I’d expect the Wine and Gold to take this one, though, and obviously cover; you can view the odds below. And for what it’s worth, 56 percent of the public bets have been on the Cavs at least covering here.
Moreover, with the Rockets having been in a tail spin, but it appears in a really tough spot right now still without Wood, the Cavs are in a great spot to get win #4 in a row here.
I’d also expect the trade rumors to seemingly keep swirling in relation to P.J. Tucker and perhaps Victor Oladipo in coming weeks.