Midway through December, the Cleveland Cavaliers (13-9, 9-11-2 ATS) and Boston Celtics (16-5, 9-10-2 ATS) will play each other in Eastern Conference basketball. The night before this game, the Cavaliers were in Orlando (Note: This game was published prior to the Monday results of the Cleveland/Orland game). Cleveland easily covered the 1.5-point spread as favorites in their previous meeting, which they won 111-999 on the road in Miami. After defeating the Knicks 133-123 at home, Boston covered the 7.5-point spread as the favorite. This is the first of these teams’ three meetings this season. The game will kick off at 7:30 EST from Boston’s TD Garden.
The Cleveland Cavaliers, who are now sixth in the Eastern Conference, are hoping to maintain the momentum they’ve gained lately. The Cavaliers were the favorites in all six games and have won five of their previous six. They have won three straight since that matchup, with their lone loss coming against Portland. With 35 points against Orlando and 27 against Miami in their last two games, Donovan Mitchell led the team in scoring. He has been playing well lately. The Cavaliers and Celtics will play two games back-to-back in Boston, beginning with this one.
Donovan Mitchell leads Cleveland in scoring with 27.6 points per game. With 1.9 steals per game, he is also their best perimeter defender. As an all-around player, Mitchell adds 5.9 RPG and 5.3 APG. With 3.0 made threes per game, he leads the team in shooting efficiency. With 19.6 points per game, Darius Garland is the team’s second-leading scorer and leads with 6.1 assists. Garland has scored eighteen points or more in each of the last three games as they have been winning. For Cleveland, Max Strus has been a reliable shooter; he adds 14.3 points per game while starting on the outside. Due to a knee injury, Evan Mobley was unable to play in the previous game, and Caris LeVert was also unable to play.
Jarrett Allen starts at center for the Cavaliers, he averages 13.0 PPG and 8.2 RPG. When Mobley is out of the lineup, Cleveland starts Dean Wade, the 6’9 role player averaging just 3.5 PPG. Cleveland ranks 18th in the NBA in offensive efficiency and 3rd in defensive efficiency according to dunksandthrees.com. Their tempo ranks 17th in the league measured by their pace of play.
