The Cleveland Cavaliers play host to the Toronto Raptors at the Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse on Sunday night.
The Toronto Raptors have been in a rut as they’ve lost six of their last nine games overall and they will be hoping to bounce back after coming up just short to the Magic in a 103-97 loss on Friday. Pascal Siakam led the team with 34 points and 14 rebounds on 13 of 20 shooting, Malachi Flynn added 20 points with eight assists while Precious Achiuwa chipped in with 11 points off the bench. As a team, the Raptors shot just 39 percent from the field and 12 of 37 from the 3-point line as they struggled to find their offense and managed just 39 points in the first half to fall behind by 15 points in the third quarter, before exploding for 37 points in the fourth quarter to make it interesting late. Scottie Barnes had a night to forget as he scored just 10 points on four of 15 shooting while Gary Trent Jr. scored just four points on two of 12 shooting.
Meanwhile, the Cleveland Cavaliers have been in a real slump as they’ve lost six of their last seven games and they will be hoping to arrest a three-game skid after getting beaten by the 76ers in a 125-119 road loss on Friday. Darius Garland led the team with 26 points and 19 assists, Isaac Okoro added 22 points on seven of eight shooting while Jarrett Allen and Cedi Osman each scored 20 points. As a team, the Cavaliers shot 53 percent from the field and 10 of 28 from the 3-point line as they stormed out of the gates with 43 points in the first quarter to build an early 21-point lead, but they couldn’t maintain that pace and eventually got run down in the fourth quarter where they managed just 20 points.
Looking at the betting trends, the Raptors are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 road games, 20-6 ATS in their last 26 games against a team with a winning record and 8-3 ATS in their last 11 games as an underdog. The Cavaliers are 15-6 ATS in their last 21 games against a team with a winning record and 1-6 ATS in their last seven games overall.
Head to head, the over is 5-0 in the last five meetings in Cleveland, the Raptors are 1-6 ATS in the last seven meetings in Cleveland and the Raptors are 7-15-1 ATS in the last 23 meetings overall.
The Raptors will again be missing Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby and DJ Wilson while Malachi Flynn is listed as day to day. The Cavaliers will again be without Caris LeVert and Rajon Rondo, so it’ll be up to Garland to steer the team at the point position again and I think he’ll be up to the challenge after tallying a career-high 19 assists in his last outing. The Raptors are only 1-6 ATS in the last seven meetings in Cleveland and I think that trend continues as the Cavaliers get the win at home.