Cleveland Cavaliers at Denver Nuggets
Time: 10:30 PM EDT, Nov 7, 2014
TV: ESPN
Spread: CLE -5.5
M/L: CLE -210; DEN +175
Total: 210
Betting odds courtesy of Bovada
The Cleveland Cavaliers have learned life is a lot harder with a target on their backs. Despite all the heavy hype surrounding a new “Big 3” of Kevin Love, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, the Cavs have struggled, losing three of its first four games. Tonight, in the second game of a TNT double header, the Cavs will travel to Denver where it finds itself 5.5 point favorites over the Nuggets.
Last game, the Cavs fell to arguably the worst team in the Western Conference, the Utah Jazz. Despite 34 points from Kyrie Irving. The Jazz led by 11 points at the half, but Kevin Love was just 2-of-10 from the floor and 1-of-5 from three-point range, finishing with a humble 14 points and eight boards.
The Cavs got some good energy and play off the bench from Tristan Thompson, but having only eight available bodies hurt Cleveland. Mike Miller played 22 ineffective minutes, failing to score, and Dion Waiters played just 13 minutes.
Shawn Marion made his first start as a Cavalier but failed to score in 24 minutes.
The Jazz destroyed Cleveland inside, getting 60 points from its frontcourt of Derrick Favors, Gordon Hayward and Enes Kanter.
Denver could be problematic tonight, too, with a strong inside presence in power forward Kenneth Faried. Faried has averaged 10.8 points and 9.5 rebounds per game this season. The Nuggets, though, have struggled.
The team is just 1-3 on the season and its leading scorer Ty Lawson is only averaging 12.5 points per game this season.
It’s early, but the UNC product averaged 17.6 points and 8.8 assists per game last season for the Nuggets. Small forward Wilson Chandler is the only player playing significant minutes with an above-average PER, but Chandler still only averages 9.8 points per game; he’s just been efficient (it’s called Player Efficiency Rating for a reason). The Nuggets typically are a good home team and will need to pounce on Cleveland early to have a chance at securing a home victory against a more talented team in the Cavs.
Denver is shooting just 40.8 percent as a team this season from the floor, while Lawson is at 36 percent. It’s not reasonable to expect the Nuggets to be this bad offensively all season; the team is solid. But it’s been rough so far for the Nuggets.
