Mitchell is their primary scorer who can beat defenses in a multitude of ways. His ability to keep defenders off balance and score from anywhere really puts pressure on opposing defenses and opens things up for his teammates.

Caris LeVert did his part to fill in for his All-Star teammate, as he put up 22 points, six rebounds, and six assists. Darius Garland added 19 points and six dimes.

Evan Mobley contributed 16 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. Cedi Osman came off the bench with 17 points, four rebounds, and three steals.

It’s unknown if Mitchell will return for this game as of right now, but if he doesn’t, expect the Cavs to run a significant amount of their offense through LeVert, who has proven he too can score in a multitude of ways, especially when he gets to the mid-range.

Also, expect Jarrett Allen to have a bounce-back game, as he struggled to defend Domantas Sabonis yet again and was extremely limited offensively.

Oklahoma City Thunder Betting Preview

The Thunder have been better as of late, as they have won three of their last four games and are sitting just three games under .500.

OKC just ran into a very tough Memphis Grizzlies team their last time out, as they were unable to make it even a close game against them.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is enjoying a breakout season, as he finished with 26 points and seven assists his last time out.

Aside from him, nobody else was able to emerge as a scoring threat for the Thunder.

SGA will likely be called upon to provide a significant amount of the scoring but also take on the responsibilities of guarding the opposing backcourt. He’ll likely be called on to guard Darius Garland and Caris LeVert for multiple possessions, and if Donovan Mitchell makes a return, SGA will almost certainly be spending the majority of his time defending him.

Josh Giddey, Aleksej Pokusevski, and Tre Mann are also capable of filling out the box score when they get into a rhythm.

Odds

The Cavs are favored by a -5.5 spread, as they’ll be facing off against a team at the bottom of the league while playing in front of their home crowd.

The Cavs struggled against a good Sacramento Kings team last night, but even if they don’t have Donovan Mitchell in this one, they should still be able to take care of business with ease and cover the spread.

Share article on: