Free NBA Pick: Raptors vs. Cavaliers NBA Odds
Looking for Toronto Raptors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers free NBA picks & NBA Odds? NBA betting sees the Raptors taking on the Cavaliers on Sunday, December 26th 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 Raptors Cavaliers matchup.
2021 NBA Handicapping
(14-15) Toronto Raptors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers (19-13)
Date: Sunday, December 26th
Time: 7:00 PM (ET)
Venue: Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse Cleveland, Cleveland, Ohio
NBA Moneyline Odds: Raptors | Cavaliers – (Bet Now!) Moneyline is off
NBA Betting Odds: OFF
NBA Betting Total: OFF
Sunday, December 26th the Toronto Raptors face the Cleveland Cavaliers for the second time this season. Cleveland won the November 5th contest 102-101. The teams will play twice more this season March 6th in Cleveland and March 24th in Toronto.
Both squads got hit by the omicron variant with eight players on each squad entering health and safety protocols over a six-day period.
Toronto Raptors
The Thursday match in Chicago was the Raptors’ third postponement but first caused by their inability to dress the league minimum eight players (even with six 10-day hardship signees).
Despite taking every precaution and traveling with a third of their typical staff OG Anunoby tested positive. Now the entire starting rotation is out and 12 of the 16 players from the varsity roster are potentially out.
Nine players are affected including Pascal Siakam/Dalano Banton (Dec. 18th), Gary Trent Jr. (Dec. 20th), Fred VanVleet/Scottie Barnes/Precious Achuiwa/Malachi Flynn, Justin Champagnie (Dec. 21st), and Anunoby (22nd). At worst the quarantine will end between the 27th and 31st.
Toronto has three games in that time frame – this one, the 76ers (28th), and Clippers (31st). While not ideal the situation could be worse.
Toronto hasn’t played since December 18th (Warriors) with Nick Nurse likely having more 10-day signees than actual healthy Raptors (Chris Boucher, Yuta Watanabe, Svi Mykhailiuk, and Isaac Bonga) available.
For the group in protocols, Banton was upgraded to probable, Barnes is listed as out indefinitely (perhaps meaning he’s the lone player suffering symptoms) and the other seven were upgraded to out on Sunday.
Khem Birch (knee) and David Johnson (calf) were upgraded to out Sunday and Goran Dragic (personal) is out indefinitely.
Cleveland Cavaliers
Like the Raptors the Cavaliers were mired by health and safety protocols but still have starters and core bench players active such as Darius Garland, Lauri Markkanen, Dean Wade, Kevin Love, and Ricky Rubio.
Their Cavs octet includes Isaac Okoro (Dec 16th), Evan Mobley (Dec. 18), Jarrett Allen/RJ Nembhard/Lamar Stevens/Denzel Valentine/Dylan Windler (Dec. 19th ), and Ed Davis (Dec. 21). Cedit Osman is new to the list this weekend.
The return timeline runs from December 25th to 29th. Four are questionable (Mobley, Okoro, Allen, Davis) with the other five out Sunday,. are all questionable for Sunday.
Cleveland played one game since the majority of the above group entered protocols (a loss to the Celtics) and like the Raptors will play three before the end of the return timeline (Raptors, Pelicans).
Garland led the Cavaliers in scoring with 28 versus Boston plus six assists. Love delivered a double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds while Osman scored 13 and Tacko Fall grabbed 10 rebounds in his first career start.
NBA Betting Trends:
- The Cavaliers are 14-1 ATS in their last 15 games.
- The Raptors are 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games.
- The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Cleveland’s last 5 games.
- The total has gone OVER in 4 of Toronto’s last 5 games.
Free Toronto Raptors vs. Cleveland Cavaliers NBA Prediction
Toronto has won five of seven (two losses were by a cumulative three points, one occurred in overtime) and during that stretch posted the fifth-best net differential as well as sixth-ranked offense and defense.
During that same seven-game stretch the Cavaliers ranked third offensively, second defensively, and first in net differential with the Celtics ending their seven-game win streak.
Although the Cavs have a much better overall record the teams have similar records versus the top four conference teams with the Cavs record 4-8 and the Raps 3-6.
Cleveland hasn’t had Sexton but the Raptors core trio has only played together three times so this match was going to provide a great litmus test. Far more disappointing is it puts the Mobley versus Barnes matchup on hold until March 6th.
4* Free NBA Betting Pick: Odds are off – score prediction below
Unless something dramatic happens the Raptors will feature one high-end sub, three end-of-bench players, and six hardship deal additions so the Cavs should win easily. As of posting no odds were available so a score prediction is provided.
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