Be sure to be checking injury reports constantly as these picks will be subject to change with the injury report!
Los Angeles Lakers at Cleveland Cavaliers
The Lakers come into Cleveland as the best road team in the NBA. They have yet to lose on the road and are one of the hottest teams in the league.
The Lakers are the clear favorite and are getting a double-digit spread of -10.0. James and Davis are listed on the injury report as GTD, which shouldn’t be a surprise since they have been as listed as GTD for most of the season. It’s a mental move to psych out the other team pregame. Instead of focusing on the gameplan, the Lakers are trying to draw the focus to whether or not their stars are playing.
When James and Davis are in the lineup, this team is nearly unstoppable. The Lakers are one of the best at finding open shots and sinking them. They are ranked 3rd in field goal percentage and 5th in three-point field goal percentage.
Cleveland just did what little though they were capable of, taking down the big three recently formed in Brooklyn in back to back games. However, they dropped their last contest to the Celtics by almost 40 points.
The Cavaliers are lead by the underrated guard of Sexton who has stormed into the spotlight after his dominating of Brooklyn without fellow guard Garland. Both expected to play in this game. Sexton is having a banner season and is averaging 25.5 PPG, 4.0 APG, and 2.4 RPG.
The Cavaliers are currently sitting sixth in the Eastern Conference and are 4-6 in their last 10 games. Their last 5 games have come from the best competition in the league and they are still .500 for a record of 8-8.
The Cavaliers are big down low and have a decent chance of limiting Davis behind the defensive leadership of Drummond. The Cavaliers are boom or bust when it comes to playing top tier teams but should cover the +10.0 after the embarrassing defeat on the road. They will most likely not win this contest, but Sexland will look to try.
Miami Heat at Brooklyn Nets
The Heat are stricken with injuries and sickness while the Nets are not at home. The Heat are without Butler, Herro, Bradley, Harkless, Leonard, and Dragic is listed as GTD. They do have less involved players out but these are the main guys. An unfortunate circumstance to take on the road against the highly anticipated Nets new big three.
The heat might be able to take advantage of chemistry issues and bad defense by the Nets. The Heat only lost by 4 to the Nets a couple of days ago. As the season progresses, the Nets chemistry issues will fix themselves as Harden, Irving and Durant will get better at sharing the ball.
The key to a Nets cover of -7.5 will be limiting Adebayo in scoring. He has been hot and has thrust himself into the leadership position with Butler out due to sickness. Adebayo dropped 41 points in the last game against the Nets, Jordan will need to do a better job on defense.
I think the injury bug will be too much for the Heat to overcome as the Nets will cover the -7.5.
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