Cleveland Cavaliers at Miami Heat 2011 NBA Preview, Odds, and Predictions: Head Coach Byron Scott will lead the Cleveland Cavaliers on the road to the American Airlines Arena to take on their previous teammate and MVP LeBron James and his Miami Heat at 7:30 PM ET on Monday night. LeBron led the Cavs to an NBA best 61 victories last season and although they started the season ok they have lost 30 0f 31 and are on pace for the worst record in the league at 8-39 5th in the Central while the Heat have won 2 in a row and enter the game 33-14 1st in the Southeast.
Cleveland is setting records it would rather not having lost 20 in a row and 23 in a row on the road both new club records for consecutive losses. “We can ill-afford to have any kind of mental lapses like we’ve been having of late,” forward Antawn Jamison said. “We’re playing with a lot of effort, but we’re also learning a lot on the go as well. Still, you have to go out there and play.” The odds makers at BetUS have the Miami Heat a -17 1/2 point favorite at home against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Heat is coming off a close victory on Sunday 108-103 on the road against the Oklahoma City Thunder and tonight’s game will be their 4th in 5 days. Dwayne Wade led the Heat with 32 points and 9 rebounds while LeBron chipped in 23 points and 13 assists. In his first game back Chris Bosh scored 20 points and pulled down 7 rebounds. “It felt good to have guys back,” said Wade, who is averaging 31.5 points in his last four games – 6.0 better than his season average. “It threw us off a little bit early. We hadn’t played with each other for a while. But with Chris coming back early, to try to gut it out and go tonight, we needed just to get wins. Hopefully, we can build on it.” Vegas odds makers have the Miami Heat +200 to win the 2010-2011 NBA Championship.
Cleveland’s most recent loss was a 103-87 rout by the Orlando Magic on the road moving them to 16-29-2 ATS for the season but the Cavs are 4-1-1 ATS in its last 6 games when playing on the road against Miami. The total has gone OVER in 5 of last 6 games when playing on the road against Miami. Vegas odds makers have the over/under for the total score at 202 points combined of the Miami Heat and Cleveland Cavaliers.
I predict a Heat victory at Home!
Note: Rich Fritz is a Blog Writer on NSAwins.com and not a pro handicapper. For expert NFL Football Predictions against the Vegas spreads please visit the NSAwins.com homepage for top predictions today from the National Sports Advisors