Boston Celtics vs Cleveland Cavaliers Predictions

The Cleveland Cavaliers are hoping to extend their win streak to 6 games as they welcome the Boston Celtics to town. Tip-off is set for 7.30 pm ET live on ESPN.

Entering tonight’s game the Celtics actually find themselves behind the Cavaliers in standings with a 4-2 record. They are coming off a 112-94 home win over the Washington Wizards which ended a mini 2-game slide. Once again Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum each had over 20 points to carry the offense, while Malcolm Brogdon added 23 off the bench. Boston defense was impressive in the win as they held the Wizards to just 38% shooting from the field and under 22% from three. They’ll be hoping to get revenge against the Cavaliers who beat them a couple of days ago at TD Garden in an overtime thriller. In that game the Celtics allowed 132 points, something that simply cannot happen if they want to get a result tonight. Over the last 15 meetings the Cs have won 11 of them, so there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic ahead of tonight’s game.

Speaking of optimism, not even the biggest Cavaliers fans could have predicted their team would be this good out of the gate as they are currently 2nd in the East with a 5-1 record after 6 games played. They are also unbeaten in 3 home games and are coming off a 13-point comeback win over the New York Knicks. A game after scoring 41 against the Celtics, Caris LeVert scored just 1 point, but luckily for him Donovan Mitchell delivered once again with 38 points and a career-high 12 assists. Kevin Love also turned back the clock scoring 8 threes off the bench. Bettors have been really happy with the Cavs so far this season as they’ve covered the spread in 5 games in a row, and against the Celtics they’ve been very successful at home beating them in 13 of the last 20 games at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

I’m expecting tonight’s game to be a close one, with the way these two teams are playing it could go either way. The Celtics have consolidated their ranks after a few poor defensive outings, this team has the experience over the Cavaliers. Cleveland could also get Darius Garland back in time for this game, although that is a good thing long term for them, it could disrupt the chemistry a bit so I’m going with the road team in tonight’s game. Back the Celtics to cover.

In 3 of their last 4 games the Celtics have allowed at least 120 points which hasn’t been a good look for them early in the season. The absence of Robert Williams has been felt for quite some time now and the interior of the paint is looking very vulnerable at the moment. They did turn it up a bit against the Wizards in their last game, but they’ll have to do a lot more than that to convince me that they’ve turned things around.

They could learn a thing or two from tonight’s opponent the Cavs who rank 3rd in defensive rating, which has been the main reason why they’ve been playing so well this season. You don’t get many 2nd chance opportunities against this Cavs side, they are 5th best in opponent 2nd chance points allowing just 11.5 per game. The first meeting of the season played just a few days ago finished with a total of 255 points, however the two teams needed overtime to get there. I’m expecting more defense in tonight’s game, after all the under did cash in on 4 of the last head-to-head between these teams. Boston has gone under in 4 of 5 on the road and in 6 of their last 9 overall. Cleveland’s record against teams from the Atlantic Division is 5-2 in favor of the under in their last 7 outings. Let’s back the under tonight.