The Cleveland Cavaliers continue their strong start to the season, now sitting at 8-5 and right in the mix in the Eastern Conference. They have no bad losses (the Lakers were the worst one) and wins over the LA Clippers, Denver Nuggets and New York Knicks, among others. Friday night they faced their first “cupcake” and throttled the Pistons 98-78.
The Cavs host the Celtics Saturday night on national television. What do you need to know about who is playing and how to bet?
The Cavs have now won five of their last six games, the lone loss by three points against the Eastern Conference leading Washington Wizards. The Celtics, on the other hand, have righted the ship after a scuffling start and won four of the last five themsleves, including some dominant defensive performances; their lone loss over that stretch was by three points as well.
Going into tonight’s game, what should you know about these two teams and who is expected to win? Let’s break down the odds, the expected lineups and how you might approach betting the game, with a prediction of how we expect the final score to turn out.
Cleveland Cavaliers vs Opponent: Odds, spread, over/under
The Cavaliers (8-5) will host the Boston Celtics (6-6) tonight. According to our partners over at WynnBet, the Celtics are favored by 3.5 points despite playing on the road. The over/under for the game is 203.5, which seems low but is only the third-lowest of the night with a number of tough defensive teams taking on shaky offenses across the league.
The Cavs are playing back-to-back for the third time this season after their 20-point victory over the Detroit Pistons Friday night. They are 1-1 in the second game of a back-to-back thus far this season, dropping the Atlanta Hawks in the third game of the season but then losing in Phoenix to the Suns on October 30th.
The Celtics are likewise coming off of a back-to-back as they hosted the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday with an identical tip-off time of 7:30pm ET. The difference is that the Celtics went to overtime to beat the short-handed Bucks, and four different players logged at least 41 minutes for Boston.
Cavs vs Opponent: Project starting lineups, injury report
Celtics starters: Dennis Schroder, Marcus Smart, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, Robert Williams III
Cavs starters: Darius Garland, Isaac Okoro, Dean Wade, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen
The Celtics’ key injuries: Jaylen Brown (out, leg)
The Cavaliers’ key injuries: Collin Sexton (out, knee); Kevin Love (questionable, health and safety protocols); Lauri Markkanen (out, health and safety protocols); Lamar Stevens (questionable, ankle)
Cavs vs Pistons: Prediction
The Cleveland Cavaliers were expected to be worse than the Boston Celtics this season. They were an unlikely pick to even make the play-in game, while the Celtics were thought to be in contention for home court in the Eastern Conference. Yet through the first four weeks of the season the Cavs have a better record against a tougher schedule and have a higher point differential as well. At some point they need to start getting a little more respect from Vegas; it’s a little surprising that Boston is clearly favored playing in Cleveland with a 3.5 point spread.
The injuries muddy the water somewhat. Jaylen Brown is a better player and more crucial to his team than Collin Sexton, but the Cavs are down two rotation bigs in Lauri Markkanen and Kevin Love (unless Love makes a surprise return tonight) and now might be missing one of their replacements in Lamar Stevens. The health advantage probably tips slightly to Boston.
The rest advantage tips the other way even though both teams played last night. Only two Cavs players, Evan Mobley and Darius Garland, played more than 30 minutes, and neither more than 35. As stated above the Celtics had four players hit at least 41. Boston then had to board a plane and fly to Ohio, while the Cavs got to stay home.
Boston is arguably the more talented team, and they certainly have more experience. Even so this looks like a game the Cavs have a great chance to win, and are a clear pick to at the least cover the spread.
The total of 203.5 is a low one, as one hot quarter by a team could easily lift them above this line. The average NBA team is scoring 107.3 points per game, which should produce an average “line” of 214.5. Why would you bet the under?
Well, because the Cavs’s defense has leveled up this season, and combined with their slow pace are putting out low point totals for both sides, in wins and losses. Five times this season an NBA team has scored fewer than 80 points; the Cavs were responsible for two of those, holding the LA Clippers to 79 points and the Pistons last night to 78. In three of their last four games Cleveland’s games have combined for fewer than 203.5 points.
Boston is a more explosive offensive team, averaging 109.5 points per game, but perhaps only because they have now played six overtime periods. If the Cavs and Celtics stay in regulation, the under has a great chance of hitting. With tired legs for jumpshooters let’s target the under, but just barely.
Prediction: Cleveland 102, Boston 99
The Bet: Cleveland (+3.5), UNDER
Cavs vs Pistons: Where to Watch
The Cleveland Cavaliers are not scheduled to play any national television games for the major networks, but they do have a handful of NBA TV slates. Tonight will be the first of them, allowing Cleveland fans across the nation to watch their team play. Local residents can still tune into Bally Sports Ohio. The game is scheduled for 8:00 pm ET, which means tip-off should be aorund 8:10.
Cleveland Cavaliers Upcoming Schedule
It will seem like deja vu for fans of both the Cavs and the Celtics as these two teams play again on Monday night. These two-game series popped up last year in the pandemic-shortened season as a way to limit travel while fitting in as many games as possible. The upside here is that the Cavs avoid Jaylen Brown, arguably Boston’s best player this season, in both of their matchups.
From there the Cavs end their homestand for a one-game road trip before playing another four-game stretch in Cleveland. They will spend a week in a little dance with two of the league’s better teams. On Wednesday they will play the Brooklyn Nets one night after Brooklyn hosts the Golden State Warriors. Then both the Cavs and Warriors will head to Cleveland to renew their rivalry, and Brooklyn will chase them there to play the Cavs again next Monday, the 22nd.