NBA
Celtics vs Cavaliers Preview: Can Boston hand Cleveland a first defeat?
Joe Lyons is a sports writer and has also been published by Nottingham Forest FC, working with the academy and senior teams to produce content on matchdays. He formerly covered the Premier League and EFL as an on-site reporter during the 2020/21 season for Prost International. He is an expert in a range of sports including soccer, basketball, darts and American football. Joe specialises in long form SEO content alongside news, tips and betting. His sports betting work can be found on SportsLens and The Sports Daily. Joe has a keen eye for the sports betting industry in the USA which covers the NBA and NFL, tracking and analysing the market as it changes throughout the season.
All posts by Joe LyonsUpdated5 hours ago on November 19, 2024
The Boston Celtics can hand the Cleveland Cavaliers their first loss of the season when the Eastern Conference’s best records meet in the NBA Cup on Tuesday.
Through the first 15 games of the new season, the Cavaliers are undefeated – 15 straight victories, with wins over the Knicks, Lakers, Magic, Bucks, Warriors and 76ers.
This has matched the second-best start in league history but they’ll need to record another nine in a row if they want to tie the 2015-16 Warriors with 24 consecutive wins.
But one team they haven’t met so far is the reigning champion Boston Celtics, who will set out to crash the Cleveland party and inch closer to their rivals in the standings.
The Celtics have fallen to defeat on three occasions this year – most notably last Tuesday in the Cup, when the Atlanta Hawks strolled into TD Garden without Trae Young and pulled off an upset.
There is history at stake in this match-up and according to the best online betting sites, Boston are favored by 4.5 points in the early morning game lines.
Celtics vs Cavaliers Preview
These teams are very familiar with each other. In the second round of the playoffs last season, the Celtics sent the Cavaliers home in five games to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Boston are slightly up against it if they want to qualify for the quarter-finals of this competition. Their loss to the Hawks was far from ideal and it looks increasingly unlikely that they’ll be able to top Group C.
The Celtics will need to be the team with the best record in Group Play that finished second in their respective group – and they’re priced at +190 to progress to the next stage.
Jayson Tatum is making an MVP charge and he’ll be keen to put his stamp on a nationally televised game like this, especially following a buzzer beating game-winner against the Toronto Raptors at the weekend.
🔥JAYSON TATUM HITS THE GAME WINNING BUZZER BEATER 🔥 pic.twitter.com/GvTqgAgsUE
— NBA TV (@NBATV) November 17, 2024
Celtics vs Cavaliers Team News
The hosts are without Kristaps Porzingis, who remains on the sidelines as he continues his recovery from ankle surgery in the offseason – but the team are expecting him to return to the fold within the next month.
Payton Pritchard is questionable with a thumb sprain while Jrue Holiday is all good to feature. As for the Cavaliers, Dean Wade is out and Isaac Okoro, Sam Merrill and Caris LeVert are listed as questionable.
Celtics vs Cavaliers Pick
The Celtics look the smart play in this one tonight. They need a win badly in the NBA Cup and ending the Cavaliers’ winning streak in Boston on national television is added motivation for a big show from Joe Mazzulla’s side.
They offer good value on the moneyline at -200 and Tatum over 27.5 points at -110 looks enticing also. The Celtics superstar is averaging 29.7 points per game this season and this game will mean plenty for his ongoing MVP campaign.
