The King is coming back to his second home. LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers are returning to the scene of the crime, per se, as they'll visit the Miami Heat for the first time in the 2015-16 season on Saturday.
You can bet on NBA odds at BookMaker.eu every day of the season.
SCHEDULING
This is a tough spot for Cleveland, knowing that it has to play back-to-back games on the road. The Cavaliers have a road date with New Orleans on Friday before hopping on a quick plane to Miami.
Even though the Heat are at home in the middle of a four-game stand at the AAA, this isn't the easiest spot either. Miami has to take on the Thunder on Friday, and this is really the first time this season that it has had two games in a row it is expected to lose.
INJURIES
The Cavaliers have gotten used to life without Iman Shumpert and Kyrie Irving, neither of which appear to be anywhere near returning.
The Heat have bigger issues right now with both Luol Deng and Amar'e Stoudemire both out for a few games. If these two men aren't back in the fold, Miami's depth is going to take a massive hit.
KEY MATCHUP
LeBron has been insistent this entire year that Kevin Love is going to be a bigger part of the offense. Clearly, that's turned out to be the case. Love has averaged 19.2 points and 11.6 rebounds per game this year, including putting up 24 points and 14 boards against this Miami side when the two teams met at the end of October.
Chris Bosh has a history of getting crushed against these big time centers, and the fact that he only had five rebounds in 33 minutes on the court against Love and Timofey Mozgov is a telling tale.
Cleveland was +11 on the glass in spite of the fact that Hassan Whiteside had a pretty darn good game on both sides of the court.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
The Cavaliers shot 45.3 percent from the field on a day where Whiteside blocked six shots in the paint and the team shot just 6-of-25 from downtown. That means on shots which weren't blocked, Cleveland shot 60 percent from inside the arc.
This is nothing new for a team with James on it, as he's still one of the most efficient players on the face of the earth in spite of the fact that he's starting to get up there in age.
The Heat are overrated as we see it. With both Stoudemire and Deng on the mend, there aren't enough bodies for the Heat to keep up with the bigs. Let's not forget that Miami's schedule has been paper thin this year. This will only be the fourth game this year against a +.500 opponent, the third of which comes on Thursday night against Oklahoma City. The Heat have failed to cover each of the two games.
The Cavs were always the better of these two teams when they were on the court together, and that's going to be the case again. This is one of these games where James is going to be a little extra motivated and will likely be on the court for a few more minutes than usual, and that's bad news for the Heat.
Cleveland 104, Miami 97
BookMaker offers play-by-play betting odds for live sporting events every day! The user-friendly wagering interface on your smartphone provides an easy way to place bets on the go. Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute, so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook! The matchup between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Miami Heat will start at 8:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, December 5, 2015 at American Airlines Arena. The matchup will be televised nationally on NBATV.
