Tip off: (NBA TV) – 6 PM EST, Sunday, Nov 18, 2012
Spread: PHI -6.5
Total: 191.5
M/L: PHI -285, CLE +245
Betting Odds from Bookmaker
The Cleveland Cavs have been pretty good offensively and the league’s worst on the defensive end. The result has been a 2-7 record, despite having Kyrie Irving averaging over 24 points per game. Cleveland has beaten Washington and the LA Clippers, but lost to Chicago, Milwaukee, Golden State, Phoenix, OKC, Brooklyn and Dallas.
Most notably, the Cavs have lost their last five contests, and they won’t get much relief as they face the Philadelphia 76ers both tonight and again on Wednesday night, before traveling into Florida to take on the Magic and Heat.
In addition to Irving’s 24 points per game, the Cavs are also getting big contributions from rookie 2-guard Dion Waiters, who is putting up 14.7 points per game and has hit 46.3 percent from three-point range.
Anderson Varejao has been understated in the past, and is having a magnificent year. He leads Cleveland in PER, with 23.1 rating, and is averaging 14.4 points per game, 12.9 rebounds per game, 3.4 assists per game, while shooting 55.6 percent from the floor.
Philadelphia is 5-4 and has one of the best defenses in the league, and they’ve been doing all of this without their star center Andrew Bynum.
The Sixers are allowing just 91.3 points per game. Throwing Bynum into the mix will make the defense downright scary, but it won’t matter if they are only able to muster 89 points per game themselves, as they have so far.
Jrue Holiday has made the leap to stardom, and is averaging 19.1 points per game and 8.6 assists per game while playing over 38 minutes per night.
Newly acquired Jason Richardson leads the team in PER with an 18.9 rating, as he has hit 46.4 percent from there point range and has an adjusted field goal percentage of 53 percent.
Richardson came to Philadelphia as part of the deal that sent Andre Iguodala, Nikola Vucevic, Mo Harkless and a protected first round pick in the Dwight Howard megadeal. He’s been a pleasant surprise, of sorts, because many doubted whether Richardson had much left in the tank after his stint in Orlando.
Evan Turner has been a well rounded multi threat shooting guard. He’s averaging 10.7 points per game, 7.6 rebounds per game (team high), and 3.4 assists per game. Turner has the lowest PER of any Sixers starter though, at just 11.6.
The problem for Turner has been that he has hit just 37.4 percent of his field goals. His rebounding has been exceptional as a guard with good size (6’7″), but he’s going to have to do a better job of finishing around the basket and getting to the line. Turner is attempting just 3.3 free throws per game, and realistically that figure should be over five.
Expect the Sixers defense to stymy the Cavs offense tonight. Jrue Holiday should do an exceptional job on Irving, and Evan Turner and Thaddeus Young will work hard to shut down rookie Dion Waiters. NBA oddsmakers predict the Sixers to win by 6.5 points, but Philadelphia will likely win this by 10, in my opinion.
