New Jersey Nets (4-46 18-31-1 ATS) vs. Cleveland Cavaliers (41-11 27-25 ATS) Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH 7 PM EST Tuesday February 9, 2010 on Fox Sports Ohio
by Jason Green at Predictem.com
Point Spread: Nets +16/Cavs -16
Over/Under: 189
Tonight in an Eastern Conference match up of two teams that could not be any different the Cleveland Cavaliers host the New Jersey Nets. The Cavs have won 11 straight and have the league’s best record while the Nets have lost 6 straight and have the league’s worst record.
This season the Cavs are a NBA best 22-3 at home and the Nets are a NBA worst 1-26 on the road.
Can it really get any worse for the Nets? Not only are they having a horrible season, but they may be without one of their best players tonight, as Devin Harris (15.8 ppg) is questionable after spraining his left shoulder in the Nets last game. Oh yeah, and Delonte West (7.4 ppg) may be back in the lineup for the Cavs after missing his last 8 games.
LeBron James has been even more on fire in the Cavs 11-game winning streak and he was recently named Eastern Conference Player of the Week after averaging 35 ppg and 10.3 assists in three games last week.
The Nets have lost 14 straight road games and Cleveland has won 9 straight at home and 20 of their last 21.
The Cavs have won both their games against the Nets this season and 6 straight and in both meetings this season the Cavs held the Nets to fewer that 90 points.
In their last game the Cavs beat the New York Knicks 113-106 on Saturday. LeBron James was the high scorer going for 47 points on 17/31 shooting and he scored 24 straight points in the 1st half. For the game the Cavs shot well going 41/78 for a FG% of 55%. On defense the Cavs did not play the best game allowing the Knicks to shoot 41/78 for a FG% of 52.6%.
No big shock that the Nets lost their last game falling to the Detroit Pistons 99-92 on Saturday. The high scorer for the Nets in the game was Devin Harris going for 20 points on 34/74 shooting for a FG% of 45.9%. On defense the Nets allowed the Pistons to shoot 38/73 from the floor for a FG% of 52.1%.
This season the Cavs rank 11th in scoring (101.3 ppg) and the Nets rank dead last (89.9 ppg). On defense the Cavs are allowing the 2nd fewest points per game (93.9 ppg) while the Nets only rank 20th (101.5 ppg). The Cavs have been much better on the boards this season, as they have a rebounding differential of +4.3 rpg while the Nets are at -5.2 rpg.
According to the Sagarin NBA ratings the Cavs rank 1st 97.23 and the Nets rank last (78.27).
New Jersey is 5-1-1 ATS in their last 7 games, 4-1-1 ATS in their last 6 games against teams in the Eastern Conference, and 0-3-1 ATS in their last 4 games against teams in the Central Division.
New Jersey has an Under record of 10-1 in their last 11 games against teams with a winning record and has an Under record of 7-3 in their last 10 games.
Cleveland is 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games, 4-1 ATS in their last 5 home games, and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games against teams with a losing record.
Cleveland has an Over record of 4-1-1 in their last 6 games and has an Under record of 6-0 in their last 6 games against teams with a losing record.
In the last 5 games between these 2 teams in Cleveland the total has gone Under and the road team is 4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings.
On the injury front PG Devin Harris is day-to-day from New Jersey and PG’s Mo Williams and Daniel Gibson and SG Delonte West are day-to-day for Cleveland.
Jason’s Pick: Good team vs. bad team, great defense vs. weak offense, great home team vs. bad road team, man things are stacked against the Nets. The most likely result his is the UNDER 189.