The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Charlotte Hornets are making loud noises in the Eastern Conference with each team currently riding a mild win streak. Both streaks will be on the line this coming Friday when the Hornets pay the Quicken Loans Arena a visit in search of their first win against Cleveland this season.
Over in the Western Conference, the Houston Rockets and Phoenix Suns engage in a duel of two high-scoring teams. Read our preview of that game here.
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Charlotte Hornets vs. Cleveland Cavaliers Betting Preview
What the Hornets lack in scoring, they make up with their stingy defense that has been grinding down their opponents of late. It was evident once again when Charlotte dealt the Miami Heat a 78-76 setback on Wednesday. The Hornets are now 8-1 over their last nine games.
[sc:NBA240banner ]During that nine-game stretch, Charlotte opponents have only managed to score just 86.8 PPG, the fewest in the league. So reliable was the Hornets’ defense that they managed to beat Miami despite failing to buy a basket in the last seven minutes of the ball game. Their defense will be tested anew against a new-look Cleveland team that boasts a raft of scorers.
Charlotte is particularly great defensively inside the paint, where it surrenders just 38.7 PPG there. Cleveland hasn’t scored past 34 points in the shaded area in two meetings with the Hornets this season.
The offense, meanwhile, should be taken care of by the duo of Kemba Walker and Al Jefferson. They are the Hornets’ top scorers with 19.0 PPG and 17.6 PPG respectively. Walker scored 24 points in the first meeting with Cleveland—a 97-88 loss on December 15—but went cold in the next one as he put up just 10 points on a salty 4-for-10 shooting in Charlotte’s 91-87 loss on January 2.
Charlotte is 26th in the league in scoring with only 95.3 PPG.
The under is 4-0 in the Hornets’ last four games.
Will the Hornets finally score a win against Cleveland this season? Create a betting account now and put your own prediction to the test.
Betting on the Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cavs have appeared to put their chemistry problems behind and are beginning to look like championship contenders again. In their latest display of their peaking form, the Cavs decimated the Utah Jazz, 106-92, on Wednesday to notch the team’s fourth-straight victory.
Cleveland’s newfound momentum obviously has a lot to do with the return of LeBron James. Since getting back from sickbay, James has put up 30.6 PPG, 7.0 RPG, and 6.0 APG during that four-game stretch. The team’s ongoing success, however, can also be largely attributed to its new acquisitions in Timofey Mozgov and J.R. Smith.
Mozgov has consistently supplied solid rebounding and rim protection the team has been lacking prior to his arrival in Cleveland. In the five games he’s played so far in a Cavs uniform, the former Nugget has averaged 9.0 RPG and 1.0 BPG to go along with his 9.0 PPG. His presence inside is a major boost for the Cavs’ frontcourt that already has Kevin Love. Mozgov and Love combined for 35 points and 24 rebounds in the game against the Utah Jazz.
Both players will be a big factor in slowing down the Al Jefferson-led frontline of the Hornets. The Cavaliers lost the rebounding battle (50-46) the last time they faced the Hornets. Smith, meanwhile, has been repaying coach David Blatt’s decision to insert him in the starting unit with a solid clip of 17.2 PPG over the Cavs’ past five games.
James wasn’t around the last time they faced the Hornets but he was on the floor when Cleveland edged past Charlotte back in December . In that game, he scored 27 points and dished out 13 assists.
The Cavs are 4-0 ATS in their last four games overall.
