NBA Betting – Los Angeles Clippers at Cleveland Cavaliers
By Zack Garrison in News
Updated: January 17, 2018 at 9:40 am ESTPublished:
Los Angeles Clippers at Cleveland Cavaliers (-5, 206.5 o/u)
The Los Angeles Clippers (33-16) will play their fifth consecutive game away from home tonight when they meet the streaking Cleveland Cavaliers (30-20) at Quicken Loans Arena (8:00 p.m. Eastern).
The Cavaliers have won their last 11 games in a row, displaying both an elite offense and defense. The team’s new-found chemistry has seen their scoring average rise to 106.7 PPG (third in the NBA). The defense, meanwhile, has kept nine straight opponents to double-digits, and are holding opponents to under 40-percent shooting.
“We take a lot of pride in it. Obviously, you don’t want it to end and winning feels great and we want to continue with it. We don’t want to be content with where we are, not be complacent, and just work hard and do the things we need to do in order for us to continue this win streak,” said point guard Kyrie Irving about their streak.
Unsurprisingly, LeBron James is leading the way for the Cavs. The four-time MVP is averaging 26.2 PPG and 7.4 APG. But the other members of the Big 3 are doing their part; Irving and power forward Kevin Love are producing 37.8 PPG and 13.47 RPG, combined.
On the other side, the Clippers are fourth overall in the Western Conference and boast a solid 13-9 record on the road. But the team is just 2-2 in the first four games of its current road trip, beating the Jazz and Spurs while losing to the Nets and Pelicans.
A poor showing at the charity stripe cost them the game against the Nets their last time out (103-102). The Clippers held a nine-point lead late in the game, but went just 8 of 25 (32-percent) from the free throw line and lost on a buzzer beater by Jarrett Jack.
“We just didn’t close the game out,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said after the game “We let them step into three 3s where that just can’t happen.”
The Clippers will be hard-pressed to turn things around tonight. Not only does Cleveland all of a sudden look like a title contender, but the Cavs have also beaten the Clippers in eight of the last 11 meetings. Expect LeBron and company to extend their overall win streak to 12 tonight.
(Photo credit: Keith Allison from Baltimore, USA (AAAA0584) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)
Sports Writer
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
