Los Angeles Lakers vs. Cleveland Cavaliers Prediction, NBA Odds
The Cavaliers return home on the heels of Sunday’s 92-81 loss in New York, but sport an NBA-best 10-1 record on home court so far this season. The Lakers extended their recent resurgence with Sunday’s decisive 130-119 win in Washington that marks their fourth straight road win, and their eighth victory in their past 10 overall contests.
The Cavaliers have improved to 5-point favourites on the NBA odds since opening as 4-point chalk. The total has experience plenty of movement since opening at 224, climbing as high as 227.5 before settling at 226, with 72 per cent of sports bettors backing the OVER.
Lakers vs. Cavaliers NBA Betting Odds
Tuesday night’s matchup at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse marks the second and final regular season meeting between these clubs. The Cavaliers snapped a five-game head-to-head slide with a 114-100 win in Los Angeles on November 6, and now search for their first home victory over LA since 2017. Overall, the Lakers have taken seven of nine from the Cavs, with five of those wins coming by double-digit margins.
With the total topping 115 just once in their past four clashes, the UNDER enjoys a 3-1 run when these teams meet. That trend extends to the Cavaliers’ recent outings. With Cleveland limiting opponents to 100 or fewer points in seven of their past nine contests, the UNDER enjoys a steady 8-1 run.
However, the Cavs have produced just five against the spread wins over that stretch. Conversely, the Lakers have regularly run up the score during their current surge, averaging 122.6 points per game over their past 10 contests, but have produced uneven results in totals betting, with the OVER going 4-4 over their past eight dates.
Los Angeles Lakers
All eyes will be on LeBron James as he gets set to take on his former Cavalier teammates. James has battled injury woes since early in the season, and was sidelined for two weeks in mid-November by an ankle injury that leaves him listed as probable for Tuesday’s contest. However, James has shown little ill effect from the injury in six outings since his return, averaging 28.2 points and 8.2 rebounds. James has also been a steady performer in three previous trips to Cleveland with the Lakers, averaging 38.7 points and 10.7 boards per game.
Even more impressive has been the standout performance of Anthony Davis, which has sparked this team’s turnaround after a dismal start. Despite battling a nagging back injury, AD has racked up 35.3 points and 15.6 points over his past nine outings, capped by a spectacular 55-point, 17-rebound performance in Sunday’s victory over the Wizards.
Cleveland Cavaliers
While the Lakers have turned things around on the strength of their superstar duo, the Cavaliers have positioned themselves for a run for the top of the Eastern Conference standings with stingy defensive play. Cleveland has vaulted to the top of the NBA team stats with just 105.0 points allowed per game, and have limited opponents to under 45 per cent shooting from the field seven times over their past 10 games. However, the challenge for this team is to improve on their own dismal shooting after converting a meagre 34.9 per cent of field goal attempts in Sunday’s win over the Knicks, marking the third time in six games they have failed to hit 40 per cent.
One bright spot for the Cavs has been the steady production coming from shooting guard Donovan Mitchell, who leads the club with 28.4 points per game. Mitchell has struggled with consistency over the past week, averaging just 13 points per game over dates with Philadelphia and Toronto to close out the month, but racked up 34 points in the team’s most recent home game, a 107-96 win over Orlando on December 2.
LAL
CLE