Vegas Line at this writing: Cleveland -4.5 (207.5)
Tonight’s TNT double-header opens up with a beauty as the Los Angeles Clippers visit the streaking Cleveland Cavaliers at the Quicken Loans Arena. Both teams are playing well with Clippers having won six of eight and the Cavs on a run of 11 straight wins that includes 10 covers. The 33-16 Clippers are tied with Portland for fourth in the West, a game behind Houston and two games better in the loss column than sixth-place Dallas. Doc Rivers has recently been highly critical of his team which he perceives to be a group of underachievers that don’t come to play every night and expects a big run soon that he knows the team is capable of making. The 29-20 Cavs sit in fifth place in the East, a half game behind the Chicago Bulls two games clear of the sixth-place Milwaukee Bucks. Even on the current 11 game roll, the Cavs have only picked up one game on equally hot 41-9 Atlanta Hawks and with basically 30 games left to play in the regular, are playing for home court in a probable Eastern Conference semifinal matchup with the Bulls.
This is a relatively quick turnaround game from a January 16th meeting in SoCal won by the Cavaliers 126-121. Cleveland, down three heading into the fourth quarter, used a 34-26 final stanza to win late. Kyrie Irving led all scorers with 37 points while Lebron James added 32 and with 11 boards in becoming the youngest player ever to 24,000 points. Tristan Thompson had a season high 24/12 starting for Kevin Love who sat this one out after hurting his back in the Cavs win over the Lakers 24 hours before. Blake Griffin led six Clippers in double-digits with 34/19 and Chris Paul chipped in with 15 points and 14 assists. It was the Cavs sixth win in eight tries vs. the Clippers at the Staples Center. Cleveland is 9-3 L12 in the series overall.
Clippers: While Blake Griffin (22.6, 7.6, 5.1) is the Clippers leading scorer and makes all the highlight reel dunks, facilitator Chris Paul is clearly the alpha dog and leader of the Clippers. The best point guard in the game, Paul gives you (17.7, 4.8, 9.6) per game and also plays solid defense. L.A. has a monster on the boards in DeAndre Jordan (10.4, 13.6) but his horrific foul shooting often negates his quality as a rim protector and keeps him off the floor during crunch time. Jordan had 22 points and 20 rebound in the Clippers loss at Brooklyn on Monday going 2-12 from the charity stripe. Jamal Crawford (15.7 ppg.) is the instant offense off the bench playing about 26 minutes.
Cleveland: The Cavaliers current 11 game run is all the more impressive in that the team has made several major roster moves. Lebron James, (26.2, 5.4, 7.4) when healthy, is the best player in basketball and Kyrie Irving (21.9, 3.2, 5.2) has seemingly been on a vendetta since his all-start game snub. Kevin Love (16.9, 10.3, 2.8) has had a terrible shooting year since coming to Cleveland but you know that his percentage from behind the arc will improve as it has of late making this team doubly dangerous down the stretch. Trading Dion Waiters was addition by subtraction and the Cavs came away with perimeter defensive player they so desperately needed in Iman Shumpert. The Cavs definitely overpaid for Timofey Mozgov (8.9, 7.9) but the 7’1″ wide body from Leningrad has fit right in by not needing many touches and taking up space in the paint. Cleveland is definitely playing better defense as 12 of their L13 home
games have gone UNDER the total.
Allen’s Angles
The Clippers are 6-2 ATS with 2+ days rest, the Over 5-2-1 in those eight
Los Angeles is 2-6 ATS in their L8 vs Central Division opposition
The Clippers are 9-18 ATS vs. good offensive teams averaging 99+ ppg.
The Over is 30-18 in the Clippers L48 off a straight up loss as a favorite.
Cleveland is 6-3 L9 as a home favorite of 3-6 points
The Over is 20-9 in the L29 when the Cavs have 2+ days rest
The Under is 25-12 this year when the Cavs are favored
The Under is 14-7 this year when the Cavs face the Western Conference