NBA ATS Picks - Cleveland Cavaliers at Charlotte Hornets Game Preview

It’s still a struggle for the Cleveland Cavaliers, who finish off a four-game road trip with a tilt against the Charlotte Hornets. The consensus pick to topple the field in the Eastern Conference, the Cavs have had a difficult time defending in the early going of the season and find themselves around the .500 mark a month into the campaign. We’ve seen the Cavs deal with constant roster shifts and they are still waiting for the return of Isaiah Thomas, but LeBron James is carrying the team like he’s always done.

Don’t miss the hardwood action from the Spectrum Center at 8 p.m. ET on Wednesday, November 15, 2017. Catch every moment of the game live on ESPN. We’ll have NBA opening odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NBA Wednesday schedule.

Odds Analysis

The Cavs visit the New York Knicks on Monday before concluding their road trip with their first game of the season against Charlotte. It’s been a successful start to the trip with cover wins in the first two, covering the line in a SU loss to the Rockets before downing Dallas 111-104 as a 6-point favorite. All of Cleveland’s covers this season have come on the road and they’ll be giving points to the Hornets.

It’s a reversal of sorts for Charlotte as the team returns home after getting swept on a four-game road swing. The Hornets blew an 18-point lead to Boston in their last game and get a bit of a break to stew over the problems that have plagued them. The Hornets have played just five home games and are 4-1 ATS in those contests. They’ll also have four days of rest before entertaining the Cavaliers.

Last Meeting(s)

The Cavs have beaten up just about every team in the East over their three-year conference title run, and the Hornets are no exception. Cleveland swept Charlotte last season to extend its unbeaten streak against them to six straight games. During that span the Cavs are 5-0-1 ATS and have averaged over 112 points per game. While they’ve had a hard time defending this season, the Cavs can still fill it up and that bodes well for them. The over is 5-1 in the last six series meetings.

Charlotte will be getting Nicolas Batum back in the lineup soon and that should help, but Michael Carter-Williams left the previous game with concussion-like symptoms and his status is questionable. The Hornets lack the firepower to keep up and the skid could continue. Dating back to the 2014-15 season, the Cavs are 10-1 SU and 8-2-1 ATS against the Hornets.

Key Stat

It’s easy to tell why the Cavaliers have had a difficult time at the outset of the season. The club has plenty of talent on the offensive side of the basketball with five players averaging in double-figures, led by James’ 28.5 points per outing. But they haven’t been able to stop opponents and rank near the bottom of every defensive category. The Cavs have allowed over 100 points in 11 straight games with the 104 surrendered to the Mavericks on Saturday being the fewest since the second game of the season.

The Cavs are giving up an average of over 113 points per game while letting opponents connect on 48 percent of their field goals and 40 percent of their three-point tries. There hasn’t been a commitment to playing defense, but the return of Iman Shumpert, considered the team’s best wing defender, should help.

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The Cavs have too much talent to be wallowing around the .500 mark at this stage and we expect them to break out sooner rather than later. It’s been an adjustment for the club replacing Kyrie Irving, and the Derrick Rose experiment got put on hold again with him out of action due to an ankle injury. James said his team can’t expect Thomas to be the savior and the Cavs need to learn how to win without him. There’s no doubt they can put the ball in the basket and points aren’t an issue. Until the Cavs show a little more dedication to playing defense, they could stumble along the way.

The success Cleveland has enjoyed against Charlotte won’t be overlooked, though. The Hornets blew a double-figure lead to the Celtics, who played most of the contest without Irving, and stumbled home after four straight losses. Look for the Cavs to pick up the pace and run Charlotte off the court in a road cover.

NBA Odds: Cavaliers 117, Hornets 105

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