Boston Celtics vs Cleveland Cavaliers betting tips and predictions for Monday’s NBA clash. Jayson Tatum and the 6-7 Boston Celtics take on the 9-5 Cleveland Cavaliers. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Boston Celtics
These two teams actually played each other two days ago and it was the Cleveland Cavaliers who came out on top in a low scoring 91-89 affair. The Boston Celtics led by as many as 19-points in that game, but managed only 37 points in the final 24 minutes of the game to let the big lead slip away. Jayson Tatum had yet another poor performance with just 21 points on 8-for-22 shooting, Dennis Schroder was the only bright spot for the Celtics in that game as he finished with 28 and 3 assists. The Cs still have a long list of injured players. Jaylen Brown is still out with a hamstring injury, joining him on the sidelines for this one could be Al Horford and Josh Richardson as both of them are listed as day-to-day with minor knocks. Boston has done well against the spread on the road this season covering in 5 of their last 7 games.
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cavs are also hampered by injuries at the moment as they lost Collin Sexton for the entire year to a meniscus tear. Kevin Love and Lauri Markkanen are also out, so an already thin line up front is struggling to score even more now without those 3 players. That didn’t bother them against the Celtics though, after scoring just 9 points in the opening 12 minutes they managed to come back and overturn the deficit into their favor. Darius Garland had 22 points, Evan Mobley added 19 while Ricky Rubio stepped up yet again from the bench with 16 and 7 assists. It was Cleveland’s 4th win in 6 tries at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Bettors have enjoyed this recent run of success as the Cavaliers have covered the spread in 8 straight games now.
I was impressed with the way Cleveland came back in the previous game, despite being shorthanded. They are now 7-2-1 ATS in their last 10 home games against the Celtics and have beaten them in 3 straight overall. They are still underdogs here despite beating Boston just 2 days ago, I’m backing the Cavaliers to repeat that performance and take another one away from the Cs. Cavs to cover.
Cleveland Cavaliers – Boston Celtics Odds
Cleveland Cavaliers – Boston Celtics Predictions
Cavaliers -2.5 Point Spread is available at -110 odds on bet365
The last 3 meetings between the two teams have averaged just 200 points and the under has cashed twice in 3 games. Neither team has impressed shooting wise – the Celtics are shooting just 40.8% in those 3 games, while the Cavs are at 45.5%. Cleveland games in general have been low scoring this season with 10 of 14 finishing under the total. The Cavs don’t score a lot, which is understandable considering they play at the 3rd slowest pace in the NBA. Boston averages exactly the same amount of possessions per game, so it’s no wonder neither team could get it going on Saturday. Defensively the Cavs rank 8th in efficiency while the Celtics are 4 spots below them. With both of them missing a couple of 20+ per game scorers, I think we’ll see yet another lower scoring game between them. Let’s back the under.
Under 199.5 Total Points is available at -110 odds on bet365
