Detroit at Cleveland Spread, Betting Pick & TV Info

It’s the final regular-season meeting between Detroit and Cleveland on Tuesday night, although the two teams could easily match up in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. The Cavs will be home favorites in NBA spreads despite playing currently playing their worst basketball of the season.

Detroit at Cleveland Spread, Betting Pick & TV Info

When: Tuesday, March 14, 7 PM ET Where: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland TV: NBA TV Stream: NBA.tv Radio: Detroit / Cleveland NBA Odds: Cavs favored by TBA

Why Bet on Detroit?

The Pistons won for the fourth time in five games Saturday, 112-92 over the Knicks to get to .500 at 33-33. Tobias Harris scored 23 of his 28 points in the first two quarters, when the Pistons took control with a fast start. Andre Drummond added 24 points and 15 rebounds for the Pistons, who came out strong after an emotional win over Cleveland last Thursday night. The Pistons have had some issues with slow starts lately, but they raced out to an 18-point lead in the first quarter against New York. Harris finished the period with 11 points. Coach Stan Van Gundy said he used Harris as a starter on Thursday for the particular matchup, but he started him again vs. the Knicks. Harris is averaging 16.8 points off the bench for Detroit, which ranks as the most points per game by a Pistons’ reserve (min. 25 games off the bench) since the NBA began recording starting lineups in 1970-71. Drummond turned in his 45th double-double of the season to tie him with Rudy Gobert for fourth in the NBA — Drummond led the NBA last year with 66. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has connected on 100-plus 3-pointers in three straight seasons (129 this season), becoming just the fourth player in franchise history to hit 100-plus 3-pointers in three or more seasons. Detroit leads the season series 2-1 and just beat Cleveland 106-101 last Thursday. The Pistons opened the fourth on a 19-5 run to take a 92-85 advantage with 6:43 remaining in the game. Cleveland sliced Detroit’s lead to three (101-98) with 1:19 left, but the Pistons hung on for the victory. Detroit forced 10 turnovers leading to 18 points. Reggie Jackson led the Pistons with 21 points and Drummond had 20 points and 16 rebounds.

Why Bet on Cleveland?

The Cavs lost for the fifth time in seven games Sunday, 117-112 in Houston to complete a three-game road trip. The Rockets were up by six when Nene made a layup before intercepting a bad pass by LeBron James. Patrick Beverley made a 3-pointer on the other end to push the lead to 116-107 with less than two minutes left. Kyrie Irving hit a 3 with less than a minute to go and added two free throws after that to get the Cavaliers within four. But then Harden sank a free throw to end Cleveland’s run and secure the victory. James had 30 points but eight turnovers. Irving had 28. Irving has scored 20 points or more in a career-high 15 straight games, averaging 28.0 points, 3.6 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.3 steals in 36.0 minutes over that stretch. Irving’s 15 straight 20-point games, which began on Feb. 6, is the 2 nd- longest active streak in the NBA (Karl-Anthony Towns has 20 in a row since Jan. 26). J.R. Smith ended up with just two points on 1-of- 6 shooting in 22 minutes off the bench. Smith had an ugly night from the floor and he missed all four of his 3-point tries. He looked decent last time out in Orlando with 11 points in 21 minutes, but he has hit 2-of- 15 field goals in his other two games since returning from thumb surgery. Over the last five games, Channing Frye is averaging 12.8 points on .639 (23-36) shooting from the field, including .560 (14-25) from beyond the arc, and 4.6 rebounds in 19.8 minutes. The Cavs have agreed to a deal with free-agent big man Larry Sanders. After Andrew Bogut was ruled out for the season with a fractured tibia, the Cavs didn’t waste any time and immediately engaged with Sanders in negotiations over the weekend. He’s expected to be signed for the remainder of the season with an option for the 2017-18 season as well. The Cavs needed some depth behind Tristan Thompson, so Sanders could be looking at minutes in the teens right out of the gate. Sanders hasn’t played since the 2014-15 season in which he posted averages of 7.3 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in 21.7 minutes.

Detroit at Cleveland Betting Pick: Cleveland Cavaliers

The home team is 4-1 ATS in the past five in the series so stick with that trend.