The Cleveland Cavaliers have looked good since their trade deadline flurry of moves, and are hoping the All-Star Break hasn’t slowed their momentum. The Cavs will be back at it this week when they host the Washington Wizards in a regular season showdown that is a key Eastern Conference matchup.
Cleveland is hoping to make a late run at a top two seed, but are only a game and a half ahead of the Wizards in the standings, and the last thing it wants is to fall to the No. 4 spot. Washington could really use a win here but should be a significant underdog on the road against a superior foe.
This war on the floor will go down Thursday, February 22, 2018, at 8 p.m. ET at Quicken Loans Arena. The game will be televised live on TNT.
We'll have NBA odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NBA Thursday schedule.
Odds Analysis
The Wizards are 33-24 straight up and 27-30 against the spread. Washington has done a nice job on the road this season, covering in 17 of its 30 attempts. The Wizards are 13-7 against the spread as the underdog this year.
The Cavaliers are 34-22 straight up and 18-37-1 against the spread. Cleveland is just 6-20-1 against the spread at home this season and is a poor 9-33-1 against the spread as a favorite. But the Cavs are a much different team now so all of those issues are somewhat out the window.
Key Stat
Three. That’s the number of wins, without a loss, that the Cavaliers have accumulated since a busy trading deadline. They have added players such as Jordan Clarkson. Gorge Hill, Rodney Hood and Larry Nance, Jr.
It’s a small sample size, but that quartet has contributed to a blowout win over the Celtics on the road and then a road win against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Both of those teams are on the short list of best in the NBA so it is a great start.
Clarkson has averaged 15.5 points and 3.0 rebounds per contest. Hood has added 14.5 points and 1.5 steals per contest. The Cavs jettisoned Isaiah Thomas, Dwyane Wade and others after underachieving in the first half of the season. This new-look squad is still coming together and Kevin Love is currently shelved due to injury, but the re-tooling around superstar LeBron James has been promising thus far.
Injury Report
The Wizards will be without star point guard John Wall, who is still recovering from knee surgery. He is the best player on the team and one of the finest in the NBA. He is averaging 19.4 points, 9.3 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game on the year.
Without Wall, Washington will lean heavily on Bradley Beal. He is averaging 23.6 points per game and 4.5 rebounds as well as 4.2 assists. The Wizards have held up OK without Wall as they have pretty good depth. Otto Porter, Jr. and Kelly Oubre have stepped up this season.
Free NBA ATS Picks
The Cavaliers are still hard to gauge because their core has only been together for a couple of games. However, they have LeBron and the home court advantage, which is plenty to make them the favorite. Take the Cavaliers to win this game, but if the spread is too large the Wizards might be able to stick around and be the right choice to cover.
The “over” should be a consideration as these teams will be happy to push the pace. The Cavaliers aren’t quite upper tier title contenders yet but if they continue stacking wins down the stretch, that thinking is bound to change. A win over the Wizards would be another step forward.
NBA Odds: Cavaliers 119, Wizards 110
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