Minnesota Timberwolves vs. Cleveland Cavaliers Preview
Where: Quicken Loans Arena – Cleveland, OH
When: Wednesday, February 1, 2017, 7:00 PM ET
Line: Minnesota Timberwovles vs Cleveland Cavaliers – view all NBA lines
TV Broadcast: ESPN
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Betting on the Minnesota Timberwolves (19-29)
If there was ever a time for the Minnesota Timberwolves (+6.5) to beat the Eastern Conference’s top seed, tonight’s the night! The Cavaliers limped out of January with a 7-8 losing record. Their start to 2017 has been horrendous and Charles Barkley is just rubbing it in. Meanwhile, in Minnesota, the Wolves are red hot. After dropping their first four games of the new year, they’ve gone 8-3 in their last eleven. Three wins within that span came against three of the league’s best as well – Houston, Indiana and the Clippers.
What can they accredit their latest tear to? Well, that’s easy, their big three – Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine. Towns continues his sensational sophomore campaign with a double-double average of 23 PPG and 11.9 RPG. Wiggins currently is averaging a career-best 22.1 PPG and LaVine is also putting up career numbers with a 19.1 PPG average.
For the Wolves to win this game, they’ll need to continue their dominance in the paint. The Cavaliers will be without Kevin Love and Tristan Thompson is beatable on the jump underneath. If the Wolves can control the rebound game and make their shots count in the paint on the other end, it could another long night for Cleveland.
It would also help quite a bit if Andrew Wiggins can provide more of this…
All the angles to Andrew Wiggins smash on Orlando pic.twitter.com/KuyfDd8GPX
— A Wolf Among Wolves (@AWAWBlog) January 31, 2017
Betting on the Cleveland Cavaliers (32-15)
January was an absolute month to forget for the Cleveland Cavaliers (-6.5). They started the year with a 7-8 record and brought a total sh*t storm of ridicule over social media, thanks to LeBron’s constant asks for more star power. The Cavaliers have the highest payroll in NBA history, but their star forward needs more fire power. Well, tonight could be a good opportunity for them to escape their current funk and let cooler heads prevail.
The Cavs have the best home record in the East at 21-5, while the Timberwolves have one of the worst road records in the West at 7-15. The Cavaliers are barely treading water away from Quicken Loans at 11-10, but on their home wood, they’re hard to beat. LeBron is currently 25.6 PPG and Kyrie is also tossing in a nice 24.4, but without the likes of Kevin Love, they could be in a bit of trouble. Tristan Thompson has not owned the paint this season, only picking up 9.6 boards per game and the Cavs statistically are ninth in the league in RPG with 44.2 while giving up the 14th most boards at 44.0 right back to the other team.
The Cavaliers will need to catch fire from the field because if they’re relying on points off the rebound and a quick transition game, they could be in trouble. Watch for Cleveland to look for easy buckets as often as possible in this one to crack down on breaks going back the other way.
Writer’s Prediction
With Love out and the Wolves on a tear, Cleveland is in trouble. Minnesota stuns the Cavs in OT 108-103.
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