What’s up guys. Apologies for the absence, out of town for the weekend. I should be in Toronto all week and thus consistent with analysis this week. Large slate, let’s get to it. As always fellas, the best of luck on you wagers tonight. Peace - - - MAK
CLEVELAND CAVALIERS @ NEW JERSEY NETS
PICK: CAVALIERS + 9.0 (-115) - - - 3.5 UNITS
I cringe as I place units from my bankroll on the Cleveland
Cavaliers. I thought about making this a
contingency bet based on the status of Ramon Sessions, however this bet is a go
if he plays or doesn’t dress. I would
prefer if Sessions plays. Let’s put it
into perspective. The Cavs will probably
be the worst team in the NBA at the end of the season. For sure the worst in the East. Talent wise they do not have what some of the
other lower-tier teams have. They don’t
have a lot of hope for the future either, neither one of their young guns shows
a massive amount of upside or potential.
They don’t have a lot of trade bait, nor do they have lottery draft
picks (except their own) to build from. The organization is
in trouble...but let me ask you all a question, do you think they are as bad as
last year’s Nets? I don’t. I think they will manage to surpass the total
wins of New Jersey last season, and that begs the question, what games can
Cleveland actually win? This is a
situation, a very rare situation in which Cleveland has a chance to win on the
road. Now I would never take the
moneyline option, but the spread has value.
The Cavs can finally have a chance to not be beaten by more than double
digits. The Cavs boasted one of their
best performances of the season against Chicago, only to be dominated in the 2nd
half and lose the game by double digits.
They did initiate a nice rotation.
Sessions was injured early and Boobie is still finding his stroke. Antawn is taking less outside shots and attacking
the basket frequently. Eyenga is a good
young player with some potential. J.J
Hickson has an atrocious offensive post game, he went 5-19 last game but he is
their lone 5 man and he is getting on the glass as Byron Scott has instructed. In his last 7 games he has some impressive
rebounding performances including 20, 17, 15 and 14 rebound nights. I like the rotation used vs Chicago. Moon and Gee out of the rotation. If Sessions plays it should stay the same. Ryan Hollins, Samardo Samuels and Manny
Harris will all get time off the bench.
Joey Graham always plays well vs his brother and vice versa. I have been very impressed with New Jersey’s
bench. In particular Farmer, Hump and
Sasha. All playing exceptional ball
right now. Last time these two teams
met, New Jersey played a perfect game in my mind. Hump had 18 boards, Morrow was outstanding going
8-12 with 5 treys, Farmer was clutch off the bench and Harris had a solid
game...on the flip side Cavs were not good at all, Boobie went 2-10 and the
Cavs went 3-12 from behind the arc....so why did the game come down to free
throws? Jersey with a narrow defeat
despite dominating. I think the Cavs
matchup well here and could even break their streak and actually win a
game....or Mak has been drinking too much Chronic Ice Tea’s and doesn’t realize
that the Cavs have only won one game in their last 27 tries....they could
easily lose this by double digits, but my gut says they compete tonight.