Pinnacle Odds: Cleveland Cavaliers -7 at New Orleans Pelicans +7 Total 217
By Greg Dempson
I make this line at –4.5 points, so the line value is with the home dog. New Orleans is off an embarrassing home loss to the Nets, (143–110,) as 10 point favorites. Head coach Alvin Gentry read the riot act to the team so I expect a much better effort tonight and Anthony Davis is expected to play. Gentry was quoted as follows, “Everything stunk, the effort that we played with stunk, the coaching stunk, the ball movement, everything about it was horrendous, they kicked our butt.”
It will be interesting to see how much playing time Irving and James will get tonight as LeBron James logged 45 minutes while Irving played 41 minutes in their overtime loss to the Spurs.
Awesome Angles
· Cleveland is 10–26 ATS in road games after scoring 105 or more points in two straight games.
· In the past two seasons, New Orleans is 33–19 ATS vs. explosive teams that average 103+ points per game.
· The Cavaliers are 20–36 ATS when playing against a team with a losing record the last two seasons.
· The Pelicans are 21–08 ATS in home games vs. teams that outscore their opponents by 3+ points per game.
· Cleveland is 19–33 ATS in road games after scoring 100 or more points in two straight games.
· The Cavaliers are being outscored on the road this season by exactly 1 point per road game and they’re on the losing side ATS going 7–12.
Powerful Systems
· Play against favorites that outscore their opponents by 3+ points per game, after a combined score of 215 or more points in three straight games. This system is 58–30 = 66% ATS the past five seasons.
· Play on home underdogs revenging a road loss vs. opponent, off an upset loss by 15 or more points as a favorite. This system is 49–19 = 72% ATS the past five seasons as well as 11–02 = 84.6% ATS the last three seasons.