Cleveland Cavaliers at Boston Celtics Preview and Pick

NBA Basketball Betting Preview
Cleveland Cavaliers (44-14) at Boston Celtics (36-19)
Thursday February 25th, 8:00PM Eastern

Betus.com betting line – Boston -1,

Two of the top contenders in the Eastern Conference take center stage Thursday night when the Boston Celtics host Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers own the best record in the conference at 44-14, but 10 of those 14 losses has come on the road. Cleveland now looks to defend off an eagerly awaiting Celtics team that has won 4 of their last 5 games. Boston will be hosting the 2nd game of a 3 game home stand following a 110-106 win over the Knicks on Tuesday night. The Celtics have played solid at home (16-9) all season and they have also already knocked off Cleveland in their lone meeting earlier this season. Many expect the revenge factor to play slightly in the hands of the Cavaliers, but the Celtics are the slight favorites for the match-up.

One big blow to the Celtics lineup is that they will be without leading scorer Paul Pierce. Pierce missed the previous outing against New York with a sprained thumb and will again be on the sidelines Thursday night. The loss may not hurt the Celtics as much as most would expect. The Cavaliers are a very strong defensive team allowing just 95 points per game which is 3rd best in the NBA. Considering the Celtics own the best defense in the NBA allowing just 93 points, there is plenty of reason to expect that the scoring will stay fairly down. Therefore, the rest of the Celtics roster has plenty of talent to score enough points needed for the victory. Ray Allen is averaging over 23 points in the last 4 outings and Rajon Rondo continuously lights up the stat sheet. In fact, Rondo posted 15 points and an eye catching 16 assists against the Knicks on Tuesday. However, the key will still be on the defensive side of the ball. The Celtics held the Cavaliers to just 41% shooting in the opening game this year which resulted in just 89 total points for Cleveland. That type of strong defensive play will be needed again Thursday night.

Cleveland is definitely most vulnerable on the road which has resulted in the majority of their losses this season. In fact, the Cavaliers have dropped their last two road outings to Orlando and Charlotte. Cleveland did bounce back on Tuesday with a 105-95 victory over the Hornets. Lebron James and Shaquille O’Neal both dropped 20 points in the victory. Surprisingly enough it was Shaq’s 2nd straight game scoring exactly 20 points which definitely gives the offense a boost. Another boost the Cavaliers now have is newly acquired Antawn Jamison. Jamison scored 18 points in just 37 minutes in his first outing with the Cavaliers on Tuesday and Cleveland is excited to get him into the rotation. Normally it takes time for a player to adjust, so it may not be surprising if there was bit of a let down from Jamison on Thursday night against a much better defense.

However, the Celtics have been inconsistent at times on the defensive side of the ball as well. Lebron James will remain the center of the Cavaliers scoring power. Lebron dropped 75 points combined in back to back outings to Orlando and Denver before scoring another 75 points combined in the last 3 games which resulted in a 30 point average over the last 5 games. Those numbers are not very surprising and Lebron did score 38 on the Celtics earlier this season. However, I really doubt that James total points will be the tale of the tape on Thursday night. It will likely be the help around James and if he can get the rest of the team involved. Normally that is when the Cavaliers are at their best when James can create opportunities for his teammates. If that happens, it will really increase Cleveland’s chances on Thursday.

Pick – Cleveland has really struggled in big games recently against Denver, Orlando, and Charlotte. This is another tough test on the road that I think they will fail. Take Boston -1