The Cleveland Cavaliers are enjoying a four-game homestand after an arduous road-heavy start to the season. They opened this stretch Wednesday night against the Washington Wizards, a painful 97-94 loss where the Cavs led for most of the second half before giving up a few open 3-pointers late in the fourth quarter.
It was also the Cavs’ first game this season without Collin Sexton, the team’s leading scorer, who is out for an extended period of time with a meniscus injury. Isaac Okoro, back from a hamstring injury of his own, started in his place. Now attention moves to an opponent in the Detroit Pistons who are off to a much less impressive start to the season.
The Cavs host the Pistons Friday night in game two of a four-game homestand. What do you need to know about who is playing and how to bet?
The Detroit Pistons have begun their season 2-8, with their two wins coming against other league bottom-feeders in Orlando and Houston. To their credit, the Pistons are riding a one-game win streak after taking down the Rockets earlier this week. Cleveland won four straight before losing to the Wizards.
What do you need to know about tonight’s game? We’ve got all of that information right here in one place for you so you can watch, bet and enjoy the Cavs’ next game.
Cleveland Cavaliers vs Detroit Pistons: Odds, spread, over/under
The Cavaliers (7-5) will host the Detroit Pistons (2-8) tonight. According to our partners over at WynnBet, Cleveland is favored by 4.5 points over Detroit, which is Cleveland’s largest line in their favor all season. The over/under is set at just 203, which is shockingly low: no other line for tonight’s contests is lower than 214.
Both teams have equal rest having played on Wednesday. Cleveland has played more games overall since the start of the season with 12, while Detroit has only logged 10 thus far. Both will play a back-to-back on Saturday, with the Pistons traveling across the border to Toronto and the Cavs staying put to host the Boston Celtics.
Cavs vs Pistons: Project starting lineups, injury report
The Pistons are expected to start their normal lineup: Killian Hayes, Cade Cunningham, Saddiq Bey, Jerami Grant, Isaiah Stewart.
The Cavs are expected to start the same lineup as they did Wednesday again the Wizards: Darius Garland, Isaac Okoro, Dean Wade, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen.
The Pistons’ key injuries: Kelly Olynyk (out, knee)
The Cavaliers’ key injuries: Collin Sexton (out, knee); Lauri Markkanen (out, health and safety protocols); Kevin Love (doubtful, health and safety protocols)
Cavs vs Pistons: Prediction
The Cavaliers will be down three rotation players, including two starters, when they host the Pistons. Kevin Love should be back any day, but it’s doubtful he will make his return tonight. Markkanen and Sexton are definitely out. That makes the Cavs more vulnerable than they otherwise would be.
Detroit is leaning into its youth movement, especially with Olynyk sidelined. They will start four players tonight who have been in the NBA less than a calendar year. Cade Cunningham has been inconsistent to start his career after missing the start of the year due to an ankle injury.
On the other side, the Cavs’ top rookie has been tremendous. Evan Mobley is improving seemingly game-by-game, and has been one of the better defensive players in the league, rookie or not. Cunningham is talented, Stewart and Bey are good role players and Jerami Grant is a solid No. 3 option for a team, but overall the Pistons can’t match Cleveland for talent or for production. Both teams are young, but Detroit plays young.
The question is whether Cleveland will win by enough to cover the spread. They have won four of their last five games, but only one of those by more than three points. Yet those games were against much better teams than the Pistons, who have lost all of their eight games by more than 4.5 points.
Finally, what to do with the point total? 203 is a really low number, but the Cavs have been putting those types of scoring numbers up lately. They are 25th in pace, ninth in opponent points per game (so allowing a low number) and are even more offensively challenged than normally with Sexton, Markkanen and Love out. Six times in their 12 games they would have come in under this total.
Given Detroit’s offensive woes (30th in points per game) and the Cavs’ replacement of Sexton with Okoro, this game could absolutely hit that outlier under. Even if it’s a blowout, the Cavs don’t have a lot of offensive supercharged deep reserves to slot in.
Prediction: Cavs 103, Piston 96
The Bet: Cavs (-4.5), OVER 203.
Cavs vs Pistons: Where to Watch
The Cavs only have a small number of nationally televised games this season, all on NBA TV, and this is not one of them. To watch you will need either NBA League Pass, or to check them out on Bally Sports Ohio. The game starts at 7:30pm ET.
Cleveland Cavaliers Upcoming Schedule
The Cavs will turn right around and host the Boston Celtics, who come into town for two consecutive games on Saturday and Monday to finish the homestand. This game will finally feature the Cavs on national television, as you can catch the game at 8pm ET on NBA TV.
Cleveland will then zip over to Brooklyn to take on the Nets before returning home for another four-game homestand.