Friday was a busy night for both the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Dallas Mavericks. The Cavs came back from 13 points down at home against the Indiana Pacers, with Donovan Mitchell going supernova and dropping 18 points in the fourth quarter (41 for the game) to give the Cavs the victory.
Dallas also played at home hosting the Portland Trail Blazers, and they ended up with a much more comfortable win, 130-110. Luka Doncic paced both teams with 33 points, but Christian Wood had 32 and 12 himself. Now the Mavericks race to Cleveland for a rematch of Wednesday night’s loss to the Cavaliers.
***UPDATE: As of 2:20 PM ET, this piece has been updated to reflect the absences of many of Dallas’ key players
Betting odds, spread, over/under
Coming off of the back-to-back the Cavs are still favorites at home, but perhaps not by as significant of a margin as they could have been given Dallas played and then boarded a plane to Cleveland. WynnBet has the Cavaliers as 4.5 point 8.5 point favorites against Dallas, with the over/under point total set to 213. For context, in Dallas on Wednesday the Cavs won by 15 points and the point total was just 195.
Cavs injury report
Lamar Stevens (doubtful, knee); Dean Wade (out, shoulder); (Ricky Rubio (out indefinitely, knee); Dylan Windler (out indefinitely, ankle)
** Dallas Mavericks are now listing Luka Doncic, Josh Green, Spencer Dinwiddie and Dwight Powell as out for minor maladies (i.e. rest) alongside Maxi Kleber (hamstring tear).
Cleveland Cavaliers starting lineup tonight
Cavs: Darius Garland, Donovan Mitchell, Lamar Stevens, Evan Mobley, Jarrett Allen
Mavericks: Kemba Walker, Tim Hardaway Jr., Dorian Finney-Smith, Christian Wood, JaVale McGee
Prediction
The blueprint against the Dallas Mavericks is fairly simple in theory, but difficult in execution. Put a physical defender on Luka Doncic and force him away from anything easy, including in the post, and otherwise run shooters off the 3-point line. On offense take advantage of the Mavericks’ lack of rim protection and use size to your advantage on the glass since the Mavs are one of the least likely teams to take advantage in transition.
That worked for the Cavs on Wednesday, with Doncic scoring 30 points but needing 23 field goals attempts to get there. Wood, who is questionable for tonight’s game, had 20 points, and no one else on the team had more than 12. The Cavs had six players in double-figures led by Mitchell’s 34 and Lamar Stevens’ 18 points. Cleveland outrebounded Dallas 43-33.
The Mavs will have more tricks to try and get Stevens off of Doncic, but the reality is that Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen are both fine options to defend Doncic in space too. With Wood out the Mavs will be hurting for secondary scoring. Playing Spencer Dinwiddie and Tim Hardaway Jr. extended minutes might help, but the Mavs will give up something on the other end trying to stop Mitchell and Darius Garland.
The Cavaliers are a better team than the Mavericks, they are at home and less road-weary. Mitchell is on a tear and can match pace with Doncic, and the Cavs are otherwise deeper around him.
UPDATE: With Doncic, Dinwiddie and Powell now out, the Mavericks’ offense will be largely reduced to Kemba Walker and Tim Hardaway Jr. trying to create one-on-one. If Christian Wood can go it will greatly increase their offensive output, but even then it’s hard to see the Mavs’ B-Team succeeding against this defense.
Prediction: Cleveland 114, Dallas 96
CAVALIERS (-8.5), UNDER
What channel is the Cleveland Cavaliers game on?
The game will be on the regional sports networks, which means Bally Sports Ohio for the Cavs and Bally Sports Southwest for the Mavericks. NBA League Pass will have the game for everyone out of market. Tip-off is schedule for 8:00 PM ET.
Cleveland Cavaliers vs. live stream
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Cleveland Cavaliers next games and schedule
Mon, Dec 19 – Cavs vs Jazz
Wed, Dec 21 – Cavs vs Bucks
Fri, Dec 23 – Cavs vs Raptors
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change