Cleveland put together their best offensive showing of the season to pick up a 146-134 victory over Minnesota on Sunday. It was quite the offensive explosion, especially considering Minnesota’s increasingly impressive defensive performances of late, and things really came together for the hosts in the second half, scoring 83 points, including 47 in the fourth quarter, to run away with the win. Five Cleveland players scored 20+ points, led by Donovan Mitchell’s 28 points and eight assists, while his backcourt buddy Darius Garland shot 10/13 for a very efficient 22 points and six assists, with no turnovers. Evan Mobley was also strong on the offensive end, with 24 points, while Jarrett Allen dropped 16 points and 11 boards.
Utah produced an embarrassing performance in front of their home fans on Sunday, losing to Charlotte 95-150. It was a shameful display from Will Hardy’s men, as the absence of the resting Lauri Markkanen seemed to completely rip the heart out of the team, as they fell behind 14-45 by the end of the first quarter. There was no coming back from there, as Charlotte continued to keep the points coming, with Utah recording a 147.6 defensive rating and an equally-poor 82.9 offensive rating to get humiliated. Brice Sensabaugh was one of the few Utah players to leave with his head held high, recording 26 points, while Isaiah Collier had 17 points and nine assists.
Ace Bailey looks set to suit up again in this game, while Cleveland will essentially be at full strength. That will make for a big total in this clash, with three of Utah’s last four games hitting the over. Cleveland’s last two games have seen an average of 266.5 points. This is a sky-high line but with the over being 24-14 in Utah’s games this season, it’s the bet again.
Indiana have won back-to-back games for just the third time this season, trouncing Miami 123-99 on Sunday. It was easy from the outset for the hosts, doubling Miami’s score in the first quarter for a 36-18 lead. Indiana never relented from there, comfortably leading for the duration of the game on the back of an elite defensive night, with an 83.3 defensive rating. Unsurprisingly, that was their best mark of the season by 6.8 points, as Andrew Nembhard produced an excellent two-way showing and Jarace Walker had some great defensive plays off the bench. Pascal Siakam struggled offensively, with 22 points on 4/15 shooting but was also energetic on the defensive end, and Nembhard was the star of the show with 29 points, six rebounds, nine assists and two steals.
Boston were outclassed in the clutch by San Antonio on Tuesday, getting outscored 4-12 in the final three minutes of play to lose 95-100. It was a disappointing end to a game that Boston was leading for the majority of, but a lack of execution down the stretch proved to be costly. Their offence flopped in this contest, with their second-lowest offensive rating of the season, at 97.9, as they shot just four free throw attempts and recorded a sub-par 49.5% eFG%. Derrick White starred with 29 points, nine rebounds, two steals and two blocks and Jaylen Brown neared a triple-double with 27 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, but struggled with his shot, going 11/28.
Brown is doubtful heading into this clash, meaning Boston’s offensive hub likely won’t be on the floor. That’s a big blow for them, but they will be able to deal with his absence against the league’s worst offence. Boston will still get up plenty of threes, with White and Payton Pritchard set to see more usage, and I expect their offence to fire at a good rate against a disappointing Indiana team.
The Clippers produced an excellent defensive performance to record a 98-92 victory over Detroit on Sunday. Without Cade Cunningham, Jalen Duren and others, it was an undermanned Detroit team but LA still entered the contest as 4.5-point underdogs, being on night two of a back-to-back. It looked like their tired legs were going to be a factor early on, scoring just 14 points in a disastrous 14-28 first quarter, but they slowly trimmed their deficit in the third quarter, before putting the clamps on the hosts in the fourth to take a 93-92 lead with two minutes to play. They then held the hosts scoreless for the remainder of the contest to seal the win, as John Collins and Kawhi Leonard did their jobs. Collins had one of his best games of the season, recording 25 points, seven rebounds, four steals and four blocks, while Leonard continued his hot shooting to drop 26 points, eight rebounds and four steals.
Charlotte produced a thrilling 150-95 beatdown of Utah on Sunday to pick up their second-largest win ever in terms of final scoreline. It was a blowout from the opening minutes, with Charlotte zipping out to a 14-4 lead within 3:03 of the opening tip-off and before long, the margin was out to 20 points. A Ryan Kalkbrenner dunk made it 41-10 with 1:30 to play in the first quarter and that was effectively game over, as the visitors waltzed to a historic win. It was such a big blowout that Brandon Miller only needed to play 22 minutes and Kon Knueppel 18, as the bench got in on the fun as the game went on. Tre Mann dropped 20 points in 12 minutes to top-score, Miller had 18 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals and Ball added 17 points, five assists and five dimes.
Leonard is questionable for Tuesday’s clash, and his absence would be quite the blow to LA, but even if he sits out, I have the hosts as comfortable favourites. They have again been underrated by the market here, as just 4.5-point favourites at home, and having covered seven of their last 10 games, I am siding with the Clippers again. They have been the second-best team in the league over the last three weeks, with a +9.8 net rating, and will be able to restrict Charlotte to a modest total.