Haven't posted in a while. Been a little short on time but hoping to be on here more in the future.
Cavs -3.5 vs. OKC
I like the scorching Cavs laying a small number to OKC. Thunder were in a 50/50 game with Washington and came out ahead. Their only other impressive win was home to G.S which they needed to avoid a sweep from the Warriors. That game didn't mean as much for G.S. The Cavs really seem to get up for National TV games, and I have to figure Lebron will bring his A game here as he usually does for these match-ups against Durant. He seems to like the way his team is playing: "Right now, I feel like this is the team that I envisioned, ... "This is the style of basketball I envisioned. Obviously, the points we put up I don't envision every night, but how we share the ball, how we defend, that should be our staple." ... While the Thunder played their usual minutes in their loss at ATL, Kevin Love's 30 mins were the most anyone played for Cleveland in their blowout win over Charlotte. This game is not as big as you might assume for OKC as they have a fairly easy slate coming up after this. It's also a revenge game for Cleveland, losing the 1st match-up @ OKC Dec. 11th. Lebron did not play in that game.
INDY -2.5 @ Orlando
Last game of a 5 game road trip for Indy and they don't want to have an 0-fer. I expect them to have 100% focus for this game. Orlando is 5-14 at home, Indy is 7-19 on the road, so no real road disadvantage here. I like that the Pacers have been competing during this trip, and almost had a comeback victory against the Heat. They outscored the Heat by 15 in the 2nd half. They got out on the fast break more when getting stops and it sounds like they'll try to keep that going into this game, "We need more randomness," . "We're starting to get more stops on the defensive end. When you get stops, you can get out and attack defenses before they're set. - Frank Vogel That might work against an Orlando team that has given up at least 100 points in its last 8 games, and gave up 113 to the hapless Knicks. George Hill just returned to the line-up which gives Indiana more toughness and defense, and is now one of their top 3 players. For Orlando I'm not sure everyone is on the same page. Nik Vucevic seems pretty intent on making the All Star game, but his team is 2-10 in its lat 12. Jacque Vaughn continues to shuffle the line-up which does not appear to be working. Last game he started rookie Devyn Marble instead of Tobias Harris. Harris shot 4-14 off the bench. The Pacers are 6th in the NBA in rebounding, Orlando is 28th. Indy won the 1st meeting this year 98-83, and out-rebounded the Magic 53-32 ,