NBA: Golden State Warriors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers Preview, Odds, Prediction

Golden State Warriors head to Ohio to meet the Cleveland Cavaliers after a rough night in Boston. The Warriors are on tour through the East and already had plenty of challenges. Though, they now come to a very familiar place, where they won three of their four titles under Steve Kerr. They won’t see LeBron now, but they still have a lot of motive to win. Meanwhile, the Cavs are one of the better teams in the East, and play very good basketball at home. Winning here would send a message to all the other teams that they need to count on JB Bickerstaff’s crew.

Preview

Golden State Warriors (22-23, +240) lost in Boston last night following the overtimes, 121-118. The Cs had more luck in the replay of the previous NBA finals, and this time ended up on the winning side. Now, regarding the Warriors, they played better than expected, yet again relying upon three-point shooting a lot, firing 52 shots from downtown, hitting 18.

Steph Curry had 29 points, six threes, seven assists, and four boards. Though, his shooting was pretty poor, 9-for-25 from the field. Klay Thompson scored 24, while Jordan Poole had the same number of buckets, but he, too, had a bad shooting performance, 10-for-25, 2-for-10 for three.

A big problem for the Warriors was the fact that they couldn’t control the glass, having 16 boards fewer than the rivals, 47-63.

Cleveland Cavaliers (28-18, -305) had a nasty schedule, but that’s behind them. Of the past five games, four were on the road, all in the west, and the Cavs faced Utah, Portland, Minnesota, and Memphis. They would win only one game in Portland, and in between, all these jumped home to meet the Pelicans, whom they defeated.

JB Bickerstaff’s crew met with the Grizzlies at the FedEx Forum in the most recent event. They were short of luck in the final moments, losing that one 115-114. It was a back-and-forth event in which the Grizzlies had more composure and fortune as well.

The big problem here was Donovan Mitchell’s absence. Farius Garland ended the night with 24 points and 14 assists, while Caris LeVert scored one point fewer and had six assists. Evan Mobley had a strong double-double with 18 buckets and 15 boards. Isaac Okoro had 17, and Jarrett Allen 14.

Head to Head

There was already one event between the Warriors and the Cavs at the Chase Center midway through November. The hosts were better 106-101. Steph had a good night dropping 40 points and six threes, while Andrew Wiggins scored 20. Poole came off the bench to add 18. Mitchell was the top scorer in Cleveland, 29 points, and was one assist short of a triple-double having 10 boards. Evan Mobley had 20 points and 13 boards against the Warriors’ frontcourt.

Prediction

The Warriors looked well against the Celtics, despite losing, and apparently, their form is slowly improving. Now, the line for the totals here is 228.5 points, and for us, this is over because of the Warriors’ offense which keeps getting better, even though there aren’t some bursts in their stat columns. Steph is back and that immediately creates more space for other guys.

Pick: Over 228.5 points -110