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Love faces Wolves for first time Tuesday
By: Zach Cohen - StatFox
Published: 12/23/2014  at  4:17:00 AM
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MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES (5-21)

at CLEVELAND CAVALIERS (16-10)

Tip-off: Tuesday, 7:05 p.m. ET
Line: Cleveland -14, Total: 207.5

Kevin Love faces his former team for the first time on Tuesday when the Cavaliers host the Timberwolves.

Minnesota hosted the Pacers on Sunday and lost 100-96 as a 3.5-point home underdog. The club has now lost five straight and hasn’t covered in a single one of those defeats. The Cavaliers, meanwhile, beat the Grizzlies 105-91 as 5-point home favorites for their second straight win and third victory in their past four contests. The most recent meeting between these teams was Nov. 13, 2013, when the Timberwolves won 124-95 as 8-point home favorites. Minnesota has dominated this head-to-had series recently, winning three of the past four SU and covering in all four games. The team is now 5-2 SU (6-1 ATS) in its past seven games against the Cavaliers. Cleveland is 12-26 ATS after a non-conference game in the past two seasons, and is also 18-32 ATS as a favorite over the past two seasons. Minnesota, however, is 3-15 ATS after having lost four or five of its previous six games this season. PG Mo Williams (back) and SF Shabazz Muhammad (back) are both listed as probable for the Timberwolves, while the Cavaliers have no significant injuries.

Can the Cavaliers cover the monster spread on Tuesday night? For the answer, connect to The Platinum Sheet for all the Expert picks throughout the entire 2014-15 season. While StatFox Forecaster has a strong 58% ATS record (73-54-1) in featured games this season, the five experts have also done well recently with a collective 59% ATS mark (50-35-2) in NBA Best Bets since Nov. 29. StatFox Brian is 72% ATS (13-5) during this timeframe to give him a 58% ATS record (23-17) in NBA Best Bets this season, while StatFox Gary is 65% ATS (11-6) since Nov. 29 to improve to 58% ATS (23-17) in NBA Best Bets this season. Also during this surge, StatFox Dave is 65% ATS (11-6-1).

The Timberwolves have been miserable lately, but one bright spot throughout all of the losing has been SF Shabazz Muhammad (13.2 PPG, 3.7 RPG). Over the past five games, Muhammad is averaging 22.8 PPG, 4.8 RPG and 1.2 SPG. He is a handful to guard in the post for smaller players, and when a bigger guy guards him, he is more than capable of scoring from the outside. He could, however, struggle to score with LeBron James on him. C Gorgui Dieng (8.8 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 1.4 BPG) could see a lot of time guarding Kevin Love in this game. Dieng is averaging 10.2 PPG, 8.2 RPG and 2.2 BPG over the past five contests, and will be amped up to guard his former teammate. With Love playing his former team, one storyline that is going unnoticed is that No. 1 overall pick SG Andrew Wiggins (12.0 PPG, 4.0 RPG) will be facing the team that gave up on him before he ever even wore its jersey. Wiggins has struggled over the past three games, scoring just 19 total points, but he will definitely head into this game with a chip on his shoulder. The Cavaliers are not good at defending opposing shooting guards, so he could be in for a big performance in this one.

Cleveland has been clicking recently, winning 11 of its past 14 games. One area it seems to have really improved in is defense, as it has now allowed 91 or less points in three of its past four games. Offensively, this team is not going to have many problems. SF LeBron James (25.2 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 7.8 APG) is distributing the basketball incredibly well recently, averaging 8.2 APG over the past five games. He had 25 points and 11 assists in a win over Memphis on Sunday and will continue to serve as the team’s primary playmaker. PG Kyrie Irving (19.7 PPG, 5.4 APG, 1.4 SPG) is struggling with his shot recently (20% threes over past five games) and will need to find his touch moving forward. He is playing off the ball a lot more, so knocking down his open looks would really help this team. He did, however, have 11 assists in the win over Memphis as well. One guy the Cavs will really need to get going is C Kevin Love (16.8 PPG, 10.5 RPG). Love will enter this game with plenty of emotion as he faces the team he used to play for, but he is averaging just 7.0 PPG over the past two contests. His teammates will need to find him often in this one, because it’s crucial to them that he is scoring the basketball at a much higher rate. SG Dion Waiters (10.0 PPG) scored 21 points against the Grizzlies in just 28 minutes on Sunday. He is an X-factor in this game, as he can either score 20 points or under 10 on any given night due to his streakiness.


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