For the second time in four days the Cavaliers will play in the game of the year. After coming close to ending San Antonio’s home court winning streak on Thursday, Cleveland hosts Golden State in a battle of the top teams in each conference and a rematch of last year’s Finals.
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SCHEDULING
All three of Golden State’s losses this season have come on the road against the unlikeliest of teams. The latest defeat came in Denver with Dallas and Milwaukee also upending the champs. The Warriors visit Cleveland in the middle game of a tough three-game Eastern Conference road swing. The Dubs opened the trip with a game against the Pistons on Saturday and end it in Chicago on Wednesday. The three teams own a combined 44-13 home record. The much-anticipated first rematch took place on Christmas with the Warriors getting an 89-83 win but failing to cover as a 7-point favorite.
A three-game stretch bookended by games with the best from the West ends Monday for the Cavaliers, who return home after a six-game road trip to host the Warriors in the second rematch this season of the NBA Finals. The Cavs had visions of handing San Antonio its first regular season home loss in 10 months after jumping out to a 15-point first quarter advantage. They couldn’t quite hold on and saw their eight-game winning streak come to an end. Cleveland ended its road trip Friday with a game against the Rockets before taking the weekend off in advance of Monday’s showdown with the NBA’s best.
INJURIES
There are no significant injuries to report for either side in advance of the matchup. Cleveland’s Mo Williams missed the last three games of the just-concluded road trip while tending to a personal matter. His minutes decreased when Kyrie Irving returned and he slipped behind Matthew Dellavedova for the backup point guard role.
Golden State’s James Michael McAdoo has yet to play in 2016 as he continues to nurse a foot injury. He’s played in just 25 games averaging 2.3 points.
KEY MATCHUP
There’s been much debate over who is currently the best player in the NBA. Golden State’s Stephen Curry and Cleveland’s LeBron James get most of the votes with a few in the “others” category sprinkled in. Once again the two will go head-to-head and the discussion will heat up ahead of and well after Monday’s meeting. And there’s a good chance we will revisit the topic in June when the NBA Finals come around. Curry is blazing through the best offensive campaign of any player in NBA history. He leads the league in scoring and will once again shatter his own record for three pointers made in a single season. He drilled 289 triples in 2014-15 and is on pace to end this season with close to 370. Only nine other times during the three-point era has a player averaged at least 30 points per 36 minutes, as Curry is now. The Cavs held Curry to 19 points on 6 of 15 shooting on Christmas while limiting Golden State to a season-low point total. Curry will get his looks and more times than not he knocks them down.
ODDS AND PREDICTION
Cleveland’s defensive game plan against Golden State has worked. The Cavs held the Warriors to a season-low point total on Christmas Day, but couldn’t muster enough offense of their own in an 89-83 loss. It was just the third time the Warriors failed to score 100 points in a game this season. And remember, Irving had just returned to the Cavs lineup from offseason knee surgery prior to that game and was playing limited minutes. So now, maybe we’ll get both teams at full strength to see which one really is the best. In the last regular season game in Cleveland, LeBron went off for 42 points, Irving had 24 and Kevin Love dropped in 16 as the Cavs posted a 110-99 victory on Feb. 26, 2015. Cleveland is back home after a lengthy road trip, they have a healthy lineup, and they remember the Warriors celebrating a championship on the floor of The Q. Those are all incentives for the top team in the East to get a victory.
Cleveland 108, Golden State 102
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Real-time spreads, totals, props and moneyline odds are all available by clicking here so start betting with BookMaker today! The matchup between the Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers will start at 8 p.m. ET on Monday, January 18, 2016, at Quicken Loans Arena. The contest will be broadcast nationally on TNT.
