Cavs vs Raptors Online Betting Odds
The Cleveland Cavaliers will make the trip north of the border for a date with the Toronto Raptors on Friday night. The Cavaliers come to town streaking, having won six games in a row, including each of their two games following the All-Star break, while the Raptors have split their two games after the break.[ad-4468020]
Cleveland Cavaliers (22-33) at Toronto Raptors (29-25)
Date: Friday, February 21, 2014
Time: 7:00 PM ET
Venue: Air Canada Centre
City: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
O/U Odds: 196.5
Spread: Toronto -7.5
[dfads params=’groups=63740&limit=1&return_javascript=0′]
ATS Matchup Insight | CappersPicks Insider Preview
A strange scheduling quirk sees these teams meeting for the first time this season on Friday, but they’ll meet twice more in the next month, including a quick second meeting in just four days when the teams meet in Ohio on Tuesday.
A win at Washington is a good one, even if Washington’s lack of depth make them very beatable, and getting past Memphis is another good win, even though that game came at home and Memphis was without both members of its starting backcourt, but the other four wins in Cleveland’s six-game winning streak have come against teams that sit alongside them in the bottom 10 spots in the overall NBA standings. Even still, the winning streak is the longest the team has seen in nearly four years, back when LeBron James still wore number 23. Now the team finds itself just three games back of Charlotte for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
[ad-6571516]
The Cavaliers have won their last four games despite the absence of center Anderson Varejao, but the team brought in some help at the trade deadline, acquiring center Spencer Hawes from Philadelphia for forward Earl Clark, center Henry Sims, and two second-round draft picks. Hawes is averaging career highs in points and rebounds this season with 13.0 and 8.5, and will instantly be thrust into the team’s frontcourt rotation.
The Raptors made a minor move of their own, sending Austin Daye to San Antonio in exchange for Nando de Colo. Chemistry has been a big difference-maker for the Raptors since the Rudy Gay trade, and while the team didn’t make any significant acquisitions to improve their roster, keeping the team intact, especially keeping Kyle Lowry around for the playoff run, is a big deal for a roster that has already undergone a significant makeover this season.
The Cavaliers have played in some high-scoring games of late, but a closer look at their schedule shows they’ve struggled to score when playing against teams that can play at the defensive end, notably looking at games against Detroit, Memphis, and Chicago. Toronto quietly ranks among the top defensive teams in the Association, surrendering just 96.7 points per game.
The under is 18-3-1 in the last 22 meetings between these teams in Toronto, and 6-1 in the last seven meetings between these teams overall.
The play: Under 196.5
