Cavs Face Big Test Against San Antonio
Neither the Cleveland Cavaliers or the San Antonio Spurs are quite living up to expectations, though the expectations for both these teams were impossible high. The Cavs because of the prodigal son of Cleveland, LeBron James, returning and the Spurs, because they are the defending NBA champs.
The Cavs sit two games behind the Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference’s Central division and have the Bulls, Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards ahead of them in the Eastern Conference standings. Â The Spurs are tied with the New Orleans Pelicans for last place in the Western Conference’s Southwest division. However, all the teams in the Southwest division have records over .600. The Spurs are actually seventh in the tough Western Conference.
And despite the perceived underwhelming starts from these teams, they both sit at having the top two best future odds of winning an NBA Championship. The Cavs sit on top with 11/4 odds, while San Antonio have 9/2 odds of repenting. In other words, according to the current betting trends, we could be seeing and NBA Championship series preview.
The Cavilers still need time to learn to mesh together as James and Kevin Love learn to fit into this new team with a new coach. However, they have plenty of time to do that. They show flashes of greatness and are playing well enough to win some games. While the likes of the Bulls and Raptors may gain some ground, the Cavs will stay afloat long enough to where they have time to get it together.
The Spurs are no strangers to slow starts. Last, season they got off to a similarly slow start before things settled and they began their climb back to the top of the Western Conference. The Spurs have the defensive edge on the Cavs, and this is a team that know how to slow the roll of James, Cleveland’s top scorer, which means Love and Irving will have to show up.
Nether team has a particular advantage as far as home court advantage. The Cavs have only won half of their games at home, while the Spurs are 3-3 on the road.
The Cavs are 2.5 favorites in this contest. The game starts at 7 p.m. ET and you can watch it on ESPN.
