NBA Preview: The Cavaliers look to inch closer to the #1 seed. Miami tries to stay alive for a playoff berth.
Cleveland Cavaliers (51-29) at Miami Heat (39-41), 7:30 p.m. EST
Line: Heat -5. Estimated Total 210.
I have the NBA Package on DirecTv and watch the NBA Channel every day during the season. The one thing I hear often from NBA coaches, players and television analysts is that teams cannot wait to get back on to the court after a tough loss.
The Cavaliers’ 126-125 overtime loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday afternoon qualifies as a tough loss. As a matter of fact, it can also qualify as a brutally devastating or a bad loss. The bottom line is that teams cannot wait to get that “bad taste out of their mouths”. Cleveland’s players may need a deep scrubbing at the dentist or a few swishes of Listerine to eradicate the bad taste left after Sunday.
The Cavs dominated Atlanta for three quarters and led 93-67 to start the fourth quarter. I was watching the game and switched over to watch the Oklahoma City vs. Denver game. The Cavaliers’ game was not competitive at that point and I wanted to see if Russell Westbrook could break Oscar Robertson’s record for most triple-doubles in a season.
The Oklahoma City game went to halftime and Westbrook was just four assists shy of the record-breaking triple-double. I flipped back to the Cavaliers’ game and was stunned to see it in overtime. LeBron James had just fouled out and the Cavs blew a 5-point overtime lead to lose the game.
So Cleveland followed up an embarrassing loss at home to Atlanta’s reserves on Friday with a stunning defeat to the Hawks in the second game of the home-and-home set. The Cavaliers blew a 26-point lead, which is the largest lead a LeBron James’ led team has ever relinquished.
Cleveland’s players were not happy after the game. Many of them blamed the refs for some questionable calls at the end of regulation and in overtime. There certainly were a few calls that could have went either way, but the Cavs have nobody to blame but themselves. They blew a 26-point lead in the final 12 minutes of the game.
The Cavs get a chance tonight to purge this loss from their memory banks. They will be motivated to do so as they are now tied again with the Boston Celtics for the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Cleveland owns the head-to-head tiebreaker with Boston. This means the Cavaliers’ magic number to clinch the #1 seed is 2.
However, the Cavaliers’ opponent for tonight’s game has plenty of motivation, too. The Miami Heat are in a dogfight with the Chicago Bulls for the #8 seed in the East. Both teams have 39-41 records, but the Bulls own the tiebreakers with Miami. Therefore, the Bulls actually hold the #8 seed and the Heat are on the outside looking in for the final playoff berth.
If Miami wins their final two games, they can actually climb as high as the #6 seed. The Heat would need Chicago and Indiana to split their final two games and Milwaukee to lose both of their remaining games to earn the #6 seed. A loss to Cleveland tonight would cripple Miami’s playoff hopes.
I am surprised to see the Heat listed as 5-point chalk for tonight’s game. I understand it, but am still surprised.
Vegas sees Cleveland with a 2-9 record in the back-end of back-to-back games on the road. However, the Cavaliers were 1-9 in back-enders last week when they buried the Celtics 114-91 at Boston as 4-point underdogs.
So I am surprised by Miami being 5-point chalk because Boston was only 4-point chalk against the Cavs in this same situational spot last week. Boston has 12 more wins than Miami and is clearly the better team.
Is this a Vegas trap? Maybe not.
The only logic I can ascertain for this Vegas line is the fact that Cleveland played a tougher opponent (Atlanta) last night than they did last week (Orlando) the night before their game at Boston. Also, last night’s game for the Cavs ended up being a battle down the stretch and went into overtime, while the game against Orlando was a blowout. Finally, the minutes logged for Cleveland’s “Big 3” increased dramatically from the Orlando game last week to the Atlanta game yesterday. LeBron played 10 more minutes, Kyrie Irving played 14 more minutes and Kevin Love played 14 more minutes. So Vegas may be anticipating some tired legs.
I like the Cavaliers to not only cover the spread in this game, but to win it outright. The Cavaliers beat the Celtics handily at Boston last week. The Celtics were 28-10 at home before that game against Cleveland last week. Miami has not been that strong at home this season (21-18).
Take the Cavaliers +5.
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