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NBA Betting – Can Cavs Keep Crushing Raps?

Eric Thompson

by Eric Thompson in News

Updated Jan 17, 2018 · 9:39 AM PST

Cleveland Cavaliers (-5, 197.5 o/u) at Toronto Raptors

It hasn’t been much of an Eastern Conference Finals so far, as the Cleveland Cavaliers (10-0, 4-0 Road) have stormed out to 2-0 lead in the series winning by a combined score of 223-173. We’ll see if the Toronto Raptors (8-8, 6-2 Home) can wake up tonight and show any fight as they look to protect their homecourt, the Air Canada Centre (7:30 PM Eastern).

What Toronto has shown as a team seeking their first ever NBA Finals is embarrassing. The Raptors have been outplayed on both sides of the ball so completely, not only have both games been blowouts, but Toronto has yet to win a single quarter this series. Their effort has been poor, and their inability to show any better in Game 2 has to worry fans.

It doesn’t sound like center Jonas Valanciunas is walking through that door to save Toronto either, so the team will need to get better in their one-on-one D. With only one, true rim-protector in Bismack Biyombo, the Raps have allowed LeBron, Kyrie Irving and the rest of the Cavs to take it right to the tin. Despite shooting the lights out from three in their first two series, they’ve shot just 14-41 from distance and are still pouring on the points.

Cleveland wants to seal this deal as soon as possible. The Raptors are only a formality for them, so a sweep is what they are looking for. Nobody on Toronto can stop this Cavs offense, so an insane showing from Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan might be the only way the Raps stretch this series out longer. The two guards combined for only 32 points in Game 2.

The Raptors are 0-4 ATS in their last four games as an underdog, and 3-10 ATS in their last 13 games overall. The Cavaliers are 8-3 ATS in their last 11 games as a favorite of 5.0-10.5.

Pick: Cavs (-5).

(Photo Credit: Keith Allison (Originally uploaded to Flickr. Photo has been cropped.) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/])

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