Charlotte Hornets Travels to Cleveland to Face the Cavaliers

Both the Charlotte Hornets and Cleveland Cavaliers are working to keep their spot in the Eastern Conference. Charlotte has the No.9 spot but has struggled through recent weeks.

On Tuesday, they’ll take on the Cavaliers, one of the top-five teams in the Eastern Conference. LaMelo Ball, Miles Bridges, and the Hornets will look to earn a key win over the Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers could be missing a few of their best players, mainly Darius Garland. If they’re without him, they’ll have to rely on Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.

Leading up to this game, the Cavaliers have lost quite a few, one of which was to the Pistons. In order to get their team back in playoff shape, they’ll need to get wins. However, they might have to do so without Garland.

Game Preview: Charlotte Hornets at Cleveland Cavaliers March 2nd

The Hornets currently have the second-ranked offense in the NBA, averaging 113.82 points per game. LaMelo Ball leads the team, averaging 19.9 points per game, not great, but not terrible.

The key to the Hornets’ success has been playing as a team, which they’ll need to do against the Cavaliers. The biggest problem we see on Tuesday is the holes in the Hornets’ defense.

The Cleveland Cavaliers will likely try to exploit the Hornets’ 28th-ranked defense. On average, the Hornets allow 114.72 points per game, one of the worst in the NBA.

Unfortunately for Cleveland, they could be missing their leading scorer, Darius Garland. If Garland is sidelined for this game, Evan Mobley will likely do most of the scoring. This pins him against Miles Bridges.

Charlotte Hornets at Cleveland Cavaliers Betting Prediction

This is going to be a tough game for each team, especially the Cavaliers. They’re dealing with a ton of injuries, Rajon Rondo and Darius Garland, to name a few.

These teams also play each other very well, going 5-5 over their last ten games. Even worse, they’re each 5-5 against the spread over the last ten games. In the last three, the Cavaliers have the edge with a 2-1 record.

The last time these two teams played was in early February, and the Cavaliers were +7. The Cavaliers won the game 102-101 and obviously covered the spread. If the spread is similar on Tuesday, we’d take the Cleveland Cavaliers.

However, if the spread is within three points, we’d lean more towards the Charlotte Hornets. Mainly because of the injuries to the Cavaliers lineup.

When it comes to the total for this game, we’d lean towards the under. For each of these teams, they’ve hit the under more often than the over.

The Cavaliers are 22-35-2 against the total this season. Taking their offense and injuries into consideration, it makes much more sense to take the under here.

* All odds provided by Action247 Sportsbook and all odds subject to change.
**All views expressed are my own. My picks are my own and are not a guarantee, bet at your own risk.