Treading lightly tonight

Cleveland Under (176) for 2 Units Cleveland/Boston 8:00: Boston's defense has done a pretty good job on neutralizing James on this floor, and no one else on Cleveland has stood out offensively, especially in crunch time, on the road. On the other hand, the Cavaliers' defense does play hard consistently, and has not let any Boston player take control of a game in this series. This season, this series at Boston has produced low scoring outputs of 150, 179, 148, and 162. The "179", back on February 27th, is a concern, of course, but with defense intensified in the playoffs, especially with these two defensive minded teams, "under" would be the logical call. Under Mike Brown, Cleveland is 24-41 O/U after allowing 85 or less, including 5-12 O/U this season in that role; moreover, they're 6-18 O/U vs good defensive teams (those allowing 91 or less) in the second half of the season, including 2-7 O/U this season. Boston, on the other hand, is 6-15 O/U vs Central Division foes, and 0-4 O/U after a loss by 10+. Five of the last eight in this series have gone 'under' and value is still with the "under" here. Los Angeles (-8') for 1 UnitJazz/Lakers 10:30: The Lakers continue to play well and nearly knocked the Jazz off Sunday despite Bryant's back problems. Look for Los Angeles to continue the hot trend in the second round, and exact revenge on their home floor. And this looks to be a vulnerable spot for Utah; after all, if we look back to Round 1 of Game 5 for Utah in which they were coming off a big home win over Houston, they subsequently got hammered at Houston 95-69. Moreover, the Jazz are a mere 6-13 ATS on two days rest while the Lakers are 8-3 ATS in the same role. Los Angeles is 7-1 ATS in their last 8 as chalk and should deliver here.