Free NBA Pick: Hornets vs. Cavaliers NBA Odds
Looking for Charlotte Hornets vs. Cleveland Cavaliers free NBA picks & NBA Odds? NBA betting sees the Hornets taking on the Cavaliers on Wednesday, March 2nd at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Cleveland, Ohio. Cappers Picks provides complimentary expert handicapping picks on all NBA basketball matchups so stay tuned for more FREE daily NBA hoops predictions like this Hornets Cavaliers matchup.
2022 NBA Handicapping
(30-33) Charlotte Hornets vs. Cleveland Cavaliers (36-25)
Date: Wednesday, March 2nd
Time: 7:00 PM (ET)
Venue: Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio
NBA Moneyline Odds: Hornets +140 | Cavaliers -148 (Bet Now!)
NBA Betting Odds: Cavaliers -3
NBA Betting Total: 218.5
Wednesday, March 2nd the Charlotte Hornets and Cleveland Cavaliers meet for the fourth and final time this season. The Hornets won the initial meeting 123-112 on October 22nd but the Cavs are up 2-1 in the season series with wins on November 1st (113-110) February 4th (102-101).
Both teams last played Monday with the Hornets losing 106-130 to the Bucks while Cleveland lost 122-127 to the Wolves.
All-time the Cavaliers have the advantage of winning 71 of 118 matches versus the Hornets. Last season the teams played three times with Cleveland winning two of the three contests.
Charlotte Hornets
The Hornets are struggling, producing a 2-11 record through their last 13 matches. As much as LaMelo Ball is exciting to watch his team isn’t winning via those efforts.
The perfect comparison example is Ja Morant who isn’t just box office – he affects winning. Ball is an excellent playmaker and exciting offensive talent but his disinterest in the defense is a team-wide issue.
Teams gain identities in various ways. Sometimes it comes from the coach – like every Spurs team is known for being unselfish which stems from their coach Gregg Popovich who would yell at Tim Duncan to make a point.
Other teams take on the identity of the superstar. Morant again is the perfect example as his Grizzlies play with a chip on their shoulder which stems from him.
Likewise, the Hornets play with joy, particularly on offense where they love to share the ball and have since LaMalo was drafted. That quality resonates throughout the team.
The problem is Ball doesn’t like to defend other than in spurts and until either he commits to defense or Mitch Kupchak adds a bunch of defenders nothing will change.
Jalen McDaniels (ankle), James Bouknight (neck), and Nick Richards (foot) are all questionable for Wednesday. Gordon Hayward (ankle) is out indefinitely.
Cleveland Cavaliers
Injuries are impacting the Cavs but I’m starting to notice teams cluing into how to play them. For the majority of the front half of the schedule, I think many clubs expected Cleveland to cool off but they kept winning.
It was refreshing to find a coach (J.B. Bickerstaff) willing to go against the grain and utilize three bigs in this frontcourt. With the majority of teams shifting away from even using 7′ centers or at least ones who don’t shoot 3-pointers, Bickerstaff took the obvious approach of playing his top talent.
That equated to starting 6’11 Jarrett Allen, 7′ Evan Mobley, and 7′ Lauri Markkanen who promptly helped propel the team upward. But suddenly the team looks less formidable losing four of their last five matches.
Why? It could be tied to Darius Garland being in and out of games dealing with a back issue but I wonder how much is the competition figured out how to attach those three bigs and how to beat this team.
They’ve slipped to fifth and suddenly what seemed like a cemented playoff seed might not be. Boston is only a half-game back while the Raptors trail by 2.0 games and has two to play versus the Cavs.
Darius Garland (back) is questionable to play Wednesday. Caris LeVert (foot) is out indefinitely while Collin Sexton (knee) and Ricky Rubio are lost for the season.
NBA Betting Trends:
- The teams are 5-5 in their last 10 meetings against each other
- The teams are 5-5 ATS in the last 10 matches against the Grizzlies
- The over/under is 5-5 in the teams’ last 10 head to head matches
- Charlotte is 2-11 SU in their last 13 games.
- Cleveland is 0-5 ATS in their last 5 games.
- The total has gone UNDER in 9 of Charlotte’s last 13 games.
- The total has gone UNDER in 8 of Cleveland’s last 9 games at home
Free Charlotte Hornets vs. Cleveland Cavaliers NBA Prediction
This should be an easy win for the Cavs but as noted they haven’t played to their identity lately and while I love the Hornets offense they can’t be counted on to defend.
That puts me in a quandary – do I go with the team who I know will play to a specific identity but who is struggling — or take the flashy offensive squad that can’t be relied on to focus defensively?
So – let’s take a different stance here and reposition that choice to being which of these two clubs is most desperate to win (and recognizes that fact). When I backtrack to that question it’s an easy choice.
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