Cleveland Cavaliers at Miami Heat Game Preview

As the Cavs are set to face the Heat on the road, there is a stat worth mentioning. Cleveland has dropped 19 games in a row at American Airlines Arena. January 24, 2010, marked the last time the Cavs were victorious there. And believe it or not, LeBron had played for one team up until that point. Crazy.

Cleveland sits at 17-31 and will be very short-handed as they try and snap the streak. Larry Nance Jr. is missing his third game in a row with a non-COVID illness. Jarrett Allen is also missing a third game in a row as he tries to get over his concussion. At the least, Kevin Love and Matthew Dellavedova will each be playing again, the two veterans both being there to help on the floor and as vocal leaders.

Miami has been up and down through the year but are entering action with consecutive wins. They held off the Warriors on Thursday after knocking off Indiana on Wednesday. They had lost two games to those same Pacers within the prior two weeks, so picking up that win must have felt nice. The Heat will probably not make the NBA Finals again, but this is still a proud franchise that will never give up on any year.

ODDS: The Heat are a whopping -12.5 favorite to win. Cavs bettors might take that spread.

Cleveland Looking for Surprise Road Win

Few folks expect the Cavs to come in and win. After their putrid second-half against Philly on Thursday, fans are probably feeling little to no faith in their team. Kevin Love played 20 minutes, though he made just one shot after the opening quarter. Dean Wade got hot early and went totally quiet after the second quarter. They managed just 36 second-half points.

Darius Garland had seven first-half assists and then just one in the second half. And the Cavs rookies are all trending in the wrong direction. Windler is having knee pain. Okoro won’t take jumpers. Lamar Stevens has lost some minutes, and Brodric Thomas is back out of the rotation. None of them look too good right now.

IF the Cavs are to win, Collin Sexton will have to go off.

Miami Seeking Home Victory

Hovering around .500 past the midpoint was never the goal for the Heat. As a low seed last season, they found themselves facing the #1 Bucks in round two. What did they do? They took a 3-0 lead and emerged with a 4-1 series win. They proved to everybody that Jimmy Butler was acquired for moments like that.

They won the East when nobody thought they could do it. Now, the road is much tougher, and the playoffs are not a sure thing. But it is very hard to bet on Jimmy and Bam. And with Victor Oladipo now in the fray, too, Miami could be very dangerous. They could become a sneakily great bunch ahead of the stretch run.

Butler loves feasting on teams that don’t defend well, so the Cavs had best come ready, or this could be ugly.