After playing the Spurs on Thursday night, the Cavs end their six-game road trip in Houston with an eye towards a rematch against Golden State Monday at home. We can excuse the Cavaliers if they overlook the Rockets in this one. It will be trouble if they do.
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LOOK AHEAD
As if a trip through Texas teams to finish off a six-game road trip isn’t difficult enough, the Cavaliers have more business to take care of when it’s done. After battling the second-best team in the league Thursday night in San Antonio, the Cavs conclude their trip against the Rockets on Friday. Cleveland is 3-3 SU and 1-4-1 ATS in the second game of its six back-to-back sets this season and they played below the final total in each of the last four while the under is 1-5 overall in such games. The Cavs like their chances against anyone these days after they won for the 14th time in 16 games with a come-from-behind overtime win over the Mavericks on Tuesday. Waiting for them when they return home on Monday night is the defending champion Golden State Warriors.
The Rockets have their swagger back and it’s starting to show. After failing to meet expectations over the season’s first two months, Houston has started to resemble the free-wheeling team that reached the 2015 Western Conference finals in matching its longest unbeaten stretch of this campaign. Improved efficiency on both ends of the floor has triggered the turnaround, with the Rockets having regained their touch from the three-point arc and shored up a defense that was often non-existent during their lackadaisical start.
INJURIES
Cavs’ guard Mo Williams was excused by the team from Tuesday night’s game to tend to a personal matter. No details were released, but coach David Blatt said Williams’ absence wasn’t basketball-related. Williams hasn’t played in two weeks as he deals with a thumb injury and a reduction in playing time since the return of Kyrie Irving at the point.
Donatas Motiejunas is back on the shelf with a recurring back problem that’s limited the Rockets power forward to just 14 games this season. Also, first-round pick Sam Dekker is eyeing a post All-Star break return from November back surgery.
KEY MATCHUP
You don’t always think of J.R. Smith when talking about the Cavaliers. They do, after all, have some guy named LeBron. They also have Kyrie and Kevin Love. So Smith is down the line on the pecking order of options for the Cavaliers on the offensive side of the court, but that’s okay with him. Since the calendar flipped to January, the shooting guard has been on quite the hot streak scoring the basketball. He’s averaged over 18 points and shot better than 48 percent from the field, including a 48.9 percent mark from three-point range. Smith credited his recent success to the return of Irving, who opens the floor and creates space with his ability to drive, shoot and run the pick-and-roll. With Irving driving, defenders have to help, leaving Smith open for his patented spot-up jumper. And when he’s hot, he can go for 15 points in a half. “We look for him a lot, and we just want him to shoot the ball,” LeBron said about Smith.
ODDS AND PREDICTION
The Cavs were faced with a similar back-to-back scenario three weeks ago, playing at Golden State on Christmas with a game in Portland the next night. It didn’t go well for them. The Cavs battled the Warriors before falling by six and apparently spent too much energy in that one because they were blasted by 29 points by the Blazers. Cleveland takes on Houston after a visit to the Spurs on Thursday. Hopefully they learned from that first go-round. It was a different Cavs team back then. Irving didn’t play and Iman Shumpert had just returned from a prolonged absence. But still, they were soundly beaten by a mediocre Portland squad. The Cavs are whole now but this is a true trap game. It’s the end of a season-long six-game road trip and the Rockets come between the two best teams in the NBA. Looking ahead to Monday’s showdown at home with the Warriors will be the downfall of the Cavaliers on Friday.
Houston 109, Cleveland 102
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Click here and start wagering today! The matchup between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Houston Rockets will go down Friday, January 15, 2016, at 9:30 p.m. ET at the Toyota Center. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN.
