Washington vs Cleveland Pro Basketball Betting Guide

Posted by Eric Williams on Friday,March 4, 2016 10:19, EDT in

LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers will look to extract some revenge and deliver a message to John Wall and the Washington Wizards when the two Eastern Conference championship hopefuls square off on Friday night. Wall and the Wizards laid a emphatic smackdown on the Cavs last week, but that win came without LeBron James on the floor for Cleveland. Now, let’s find out if the Cavs can get their revenge or whether the Wizards can duplicate their pro hoops odds feat from a week ago.

 

How to Bet the Washington Wizards vs. Cleveland Cavaliers NBA Odds & TV Info

When: Friday, March 4, 8:00 PM  ET
Where: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio
TV:  ESPN
Radio: WMMS
TV Stream: WatchESPN
NBA Odds: TBA

Why Bet the Washington Wizards

The Wizards (30-30 SU, 32-28 ATS) look like a good bet in this contest because they’ve won four straight. That’s the good news. The bad news is that three of Washington’s wins came against Philadelphia (twice) and Minnesota, including their 104-98 win over the T-Wolves on Tuesday night. The Wiz got a team-high 26 points from Bradley Beal to reach .500 and move within a half-game of Detroit for the eighth and final berth in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

“Winning just brings good spirits, it brings attitude, it brings swag, and it brings positive energy,” Beal said. “It brings everything you can possibly want, and that’s everything we have. The locker room is great, guys are getting along, coaches are getting along. And we’re winning. At the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about. We know that if we’re going to make the playoffs, we have to win every day.”

Alan Anderson added 18 points for Washington off the bench while John Wall added 14 points.

Why Bet the Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cavs (42-17 SU, 25-31 ATS) look like a great bet because they lost to Washington the last time out and definitely want revenge. Cleveland snapped their modest two-game losing streak by beating Indiana 100-96 thanks to a changed call on the Pacers’ Paul George’s three-point shot late in regulation. George’s 3-pointer appeared to tie the game at 89 with 4:46 left, but officials agreed to review the play at the next timeout. That didn’t come until 2:27 remained. By then, the Pacers went into the timeout leading by four. They came out of the TO with a one-point lead.

LeBron James scored a team-high 33 points and Kyrie Irving added 22 points and six assists. “When our backs are against the wall, that’s when we tend to play harder,” head 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.”

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Expert Pick & Final Score Prediction

While I absolutely abhor LeBron James, I’ve also got to ‘keep it real’ by backing the Cleveland Cavaliers to get the home win and extract their revenge tonight, mostly because LeBron James will be in the lineup.

I know the Wizards are 9-4 ATS in their last 13 games overall, but they’re also just 2-6 ATS in their last 8 games against a team with a winning SU record while Cleveland has gone 7-3 ATS in their last 10 games playing on 3 or more days rest.

The Wizards are 4-0 ATS in the last 4 meetings against the Cavs and an impressive 4-1 ATS in the last five meetings in Cleveland, but I just don’t see LeBron James and the ‘desperate’ Cavs failing to get the win in this meaningful matchup.

My final score prediction: Cleveland 104 Washington 100