Cleveland Cavaliers vs Boston Celtics Prediction and Betting Tips for 2024 Emirates NBA Cup | Nov. 19
It wouldn't be a stretch to call the Cleveland Cavaliers vs Boston Celtics' Emirates NBA Cup skirmish at the TD Garden on Tuesday an early preview of the Eastern Conference Finals. The Celtics are defending champions, and the 15-0 Cavaliers have made no secret of the fact that they are gunning for revenge.
The last time these two sides met, Boston outclassed the injury-riddled Cavs in five games in the Eastern Conference semifinals and eventually went to win their 18th NBA championship.
The new season has shown a new side of the Cavaliers. They are pacy on offense, bullish on defense, and the best part is that they are consistent with the kind of ball they're playing. Relentless pressure to barrel to the rim and selfless ball movement have yielded success for Cleveland early on.
Factor in how they cut to the basket, the athleticism, and the well-developed synergy between their starters, it's hard to ignore the fact that the Cavs are a bonafide threat.
If they win the battle between the league's best offensive teams, it's essentially curtains down for the Celtics who have already lost their in-season tournament opener to the Atlanta Hawks by one point.
A loss against Cleveland will not just put the focus on the Celtics failing to clinch the Cup in its second edition, but also on Jayson Tatum who has already begun copping flak for not doing enough to push the team for an additional piece of silverware.
Just to provide a fair idea of how dismal Boston's loss was, the Hawks fielded a banged-up side with Trae Young (Achilles), Bojan Bogdanovic (hamstring), and De’Andre Hunter (personal reasons) all sidelined. They were stunned by a side that started a two-way contracted guard Keaton Wallace.
More so than winning the NBA Cup, the larger talking point was how a unit as versatile as Boston could drop a winnable game. In hindsight, the C's have also been guilty of committing mistakes that have allowed a few of their opponents to capitalize on their mistakes in a handful of contests this season.
They now have a chance to be "the perfect team" Jaylen Brown wanted them to be. Of course, 14 games is too small a sample size to determine how a side can fare, but that doesn't apply to the Celtics who were pegged to defend their title well before the start of the season.
The onus is on playing a near-perfect and live up to the hype as the side that can snap the Cavaliers' red-hot streak. There's no doubt that the Celtics play a brand of disciplined basketball, the only question is if they can avoid the pretenders tag when they play an impressive team on Tuesday.
Cleveland Cavaliers vs Boston Celtics Preview, Predicted starting lineups, betting tips, odds, and prediction
The Cavaliers vs Celtics skirmish tips off at 7 pm ET. The game will be televised on TNT and NBCS-BOS. The matchup can be streamed live on Fubo TV and Max (regional restrictions may apply) and on the NBA app with a subscription to the NBA League Pass.
Here's a look at the odds as listed at the time of writing:
Note: Odds are subject to change closer to tip-off.
Cleveland Cavaliers vs Boston Celtics preview
A strong defensive performance will guarantee a Cleveland Cavaliers win. If they can defend as well as they shoot, there's every reason to believe that they can get the Boston Celtics to commit errors under the pump. Their defense has been rather wobbly, largely due to their struggles to defend from beyond the arc.
They are 10th in the league in scoring defense as they allow their opponents an average of 114.8 points per contest. They have deployed more zone defense to combat their perimeter shooting issue. However, they will be depleted on the wing front against a team filled with quality shooters.
They will face issues from Boston on that front. Another area of improvement is their free throw shooting. The Cavs are 13th in the NBA, connecting just 78.5% of their shots from the charity stripe.
Boston's offense is still one of their biggest strength as they shoot from all five positions and also boast of winning one-on-one matchups on the perimeter, which in turn helps create better looks for easier 3s.
The team is second in this season on scoring offense. They allow 111.4 points per game, putting them 20th on scoring defense. They top the league in threes per game with 18.9 of them per contest. They also beat the Cavaliers by shooting 82.5% of their free throw attempts.
Cleveland Cavaliers vs Boston Celtics predicted starting lineups
The Celtics will likely stick to the same lineup they used against the Hawks.
Boston Celtics Injury Report (Nov. 19): Payton Pritchard (thumb) is listed as questionable. Kristaps Porzingis (foot) remains out
The Cavaliers will have their starters ready for this one. Expect Kenny Atkinson to start with their usual five.
Cleveland Cavaliers Injury Report (Nov. 19): Isaac Okoro (ankle) and Caris LeVert (knee) are questionable, as is Sam Merill (ankle). Dean Wade (ankle), Max Strus (ankle), and Emoni Bates (knee) are out.
Cleveland Cavaliers vs Boston Celtics betting tips
For the Boston Celtics, Jaylen Brown is listed -115/-110 o/u on points. Jayson Tatum is -114/+100 on points. Al Horford is -113/-105 on points and rebounds. Donovan Mitchell is worth keeping an eye out for with -105/-120 on points and rebounds. Jarrett Allen is -120/-113 on points and rebounds.
Cleveland Cavaliers vs Boston Celtics prediction
Expect trading buckets in the final quarter and the Boston Celtics scorching from the perimeter. The Cavaliers will have to combat the crowd at the TD Garden and the versatility of Boston's starters, but they will hang in and go 16-0. Chalk up a revenge win for Cleveland.