Cavs vs Mavs: Starters, odds, prediction and TV channel

The Cleveland Cavaliers have righted the ship. After an injury-riddled five-game losing streak to a run of title contenders, the Cavs beat the Orlando Magic on Saturday night to get back to .500 and prove to some extent that they aren’t different from the team that began the season 9-5.

Evan Mobley returning was the big story, as he was immediately flying around on defense, swatting four shots and playing 33 minutes overall. Also in the list of positives was Darius Garland having his best game of the season, and Lauri Markkanen finding his shot. Now the Cavs go on the road to face the second-half of this tough stretch of the schedule.

The Cavs play the Dallas Mavericks Monday night to start their road trip. What do you need to know about who is playing and how to bet?

The Dallas Mavericks find themselves in a similar place of uncertain momentum, mitigating their 9-4 start with a 1-4 stumble. That came mostly due to the absence of Luka Doncic, who returned two games ago and helped the Mavericks beat the LA Clippers in overtime. In their most recent game, the Mavs lost by six to the Washington Wizards, who the Cavs will visit at the end of the week.

The Cavs and Mavs have similar nicknames, similar records and will face off on Monday night. What do you need to know about the matchup, including the odds, and what’s our prediction on how things will turn out?

Cleveland Cavaliers vs Dallas Mavericks: Odds, spread, over/under

The Cavaliers (10-10) will visit the Dallas Mavericks (10-8) tonight. According to our partners over at WynnBet, the Mavericks are favored by 7.0 points. The over/under total comes out to 205.5. Cleveland has covered each of its last three games, while the Mavericks are 3-2 in their last five despite going 1-4 over that span.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have had a nicely spaced-out schedule the past week and that will continue moving forward as well. They played on Wednesday and Saturday of last week and will have had one night off before the Monday night showdown with the Mavericks. Dallas will be similarly rested, playing on Tuesday and Saturday last week and remaining home to host the Cavs.

Cavs vs Mavericks: Project starting lineups, injury report

Mavs starters: Luka Doncic, Tim Hardaway Jr., Dorian Finney-Smith, Kristaps Porzingis, Willie Cauley-Stein

Cavs: Darius Garland, Isaac Okoro, Lauri Markkanen, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen

The Mavericks’ key injuries: Players

The Cavaliers’ key injuries: Collin Sexton (out for season, knee); Dean Wade (questionable,

Cavs vs Mavs: Prediction

The Dallas Mavericks have the best player in this game, full-stop, similar to how the Cavaliers used to have the best player in most (if not all) matchups with LeBron James. Luka Doncic is an offensive maestro, conducting the offense and scoring from all over the court. The Cavs will start Isaac Okoro on Doncic and pray he can hold up.

The question for Cleveland defensively is how much backup they want to provide Okoro. Do they double Doncic on-ball and force someone else on the team to beat them? That’s not a strategy the Cavs have tried often this season. Something they have done against heliocentric guards (shouts to Seth Partnow) like Doncic (Trae Young comes to mind) is shift to a zone and place Evan Mobley at the top of the key, disrupting passing lanes with his length.

On offense, the Cavs like to attack the offensive glass, but the Mavericks are second in the league in defensive rebounding percentage, collecting 79.7 percent of the available boards. To beat the Mavs they will need to make the first shot count, taking the time to find an open shot. With Dorian Finney-Smith and Kristaps Porzingis at the forward positions, the Mavs’ length can nearly rival that of the Cavaliers.

What’s shocking to me is how large the line is. The Mavs are mostly healthy, although backup point guard Jalen Brunson plays an important role and may miss another game. Yet the Cavs are now (mostly) healthy themselves. On the season the Mavericks have been outscored by 1.6 points per 100 possessions. The Cavs, despite a slightly inferior record, are a positive 0.2 for the year.

Even if you want to factor in home-court advantage, account for the handful of games that Doncic misses and sprinkle in a lock of Dirk Nowitzki’s hair, the Mavs should be only slightly favored, if at all. Giving the Cavs seven points is highway robbery. The implied spread says that the Cavs are expected to score 99 points to the Mavs’ 106. Cleveland is averaging 103 points per game this season, while the Mavericks are averaging 104.7.

Cleveland has a limited bag of wing defenders to throw at Doncic, and he could absolutely go off for a career-type night and blow Cleveland out, but the Cavs have proven capable of slowing superstar opponents thus far. Mobley could see time on him as well. They should keep the game close, as they always do, and despite being seven-point underdogs I’m taking Cleveland straight up against a team that is, on paper, an inferior team.

Prediction: Cleveland 106, Dallas 102

The Bet: Cleveland (+7.0), OVER

Cavs vs Mavericks: Where to Watch

As usual, this contest for the Cavs will be a local television one. That will be Bally Sports Ohio for Ohio residents; if you happen to live in Texas that means Bally Sports Southwest. For everyone else, NBA League Pass will air the game as well. The Cavs’ first game outside of the Eastern Time zone since before Halloween will tip-off at 8:30pm ET.

Cleveland Cavaliers Upcoming Schedule

The Cavs just played eight of nine games at home, but now they have a small three-game road trip to stretch their legs. That begins against the Mavericks, and from there they will fly to Miami, FL, going from the American Airlines Center (the home arena for the Mavs) to what was formerly known as American Airlines Arena — now FTX Arena, and the home of the Miami Heat.

After facing the Heat, they zip up I-90 to Washington D.C. to take on the Washington Wizards, a rematch of their 97-94 loss a few weeks ago when Kyle Kuzma shot the Wizards to the victory. Then it’s the Utah Jazz, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Chicago Bulls are lurking before the schedule lets up.