Boston vs Cleveland NBA East Odds Match Up

Posted by Eric Williams on Saturday,March 5, 2016 6:31, EDT in

After suffering a stunning loss against the impressive Boston Celtics in their last meeting, LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers will look to extract some revenge and send a message to their upstart conference rivals. Now, let’s find out if the Cavs will get their payback or whether the blossoming Celtics can pull off another Pro hoops betting upset.

How to Bet the Boston Celtics vs. Cleveland Cavaliers NBA Odds & TV Info

When: Saturday March 5, 7:00 PM  ET
Where: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio
TV: CSNE, FSOH
Radio: WMMS
TV Stream: FoxSportsGo
NBA Odds: TBA

Why Bet the Boston Celtics

The C’s (37-25 SU, 35-26 ATS) look like a great wager because they play some of the best ‘tem’ basketball in the league. Boston has won four straight and five of their last six games and rolled all over the streaking Portland Trail Blazers in their 116-93 win on Wednesday night while easily covering the spread as a 6-point home favorite.

Boston caught fire after trailing Portland by a dozen points after one quarter. “That just shows the relentlessness that we have,” guard Marcus Smart said after scoring 15 points and pulling down 11 rebounds off the bench. “They could have run away with that game. We dug down deep, we stuck to what we knew, we listened to Coach Brad (Stevens) and came out with the victory.

The win was Boston’s 15th in their last 19 games overall. Isaiah Thomas scored team-high 30 points while Jared Sullinger added 15 points and 11 rebounds and Avery Bradley, 17 points. The Celtics are 6-0 ATS in their last 6 games versus a team with a winning record and average 106.1 points per game while allowing 101.7 points per contest defensively.

Why Bet the Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cavaliers (42-17 SU, 25-31 ATS) look like a good team to back in this contest because they’re playing at home and really want to send a message to Boston should they meet the C’s in the postseason. Cleveland snapped a two-game losing streak by squeaking past Indiana 100-96 in a controversial affair on Monday though the Cavs never came close to covering the spread as an 8-point home fave.

Cleveland got a team-high 33 points from LeBron James and 22 points from Kyrie Irving “When our backs are against the wall, that’s when we tend to play harder,” coach Tyronn Lue said. “It’s annoying, but when you have a team like we have with great individual players, they can turn it on at any point in time. Sometimes it can come back and bite you.”

The Cavaliers average 102.9 points per game while limiting the opposition to just 97.2 points per contest defensively.

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Expert Pick & Final Score Prediction

With Boston being the better offensive team as well as holding the edge in rebounding, free throw shooting and bench play, I say the C’s push the Cavaliers really hard for the outright win while covering the spread with a bit of room to spare.

The Celtics are 9-4 ATS in their last 13 games overall while the Cavaliers are just 1-4 ATS in their last five home games. Cementing my pick for a Boston ATS cover is the fact that the Road team in this rivalry is a perfect 5-0 ATS in the last five meetings

My final score prediction: Cleveland 104 Boston 101