StatFox.com - Sports Handicapping Community

The Leader In Sports Handicapping

Cavaliers, Timberwolves battle in Minnesota Tuesday
By: Zach Cohen - StatFox
Published: 2/14/2017  at  1:02:00 PM
  Print This Article    

CLEVELAND CAVALIERS (37-16)

at MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES (21-34)

Tip-off: Tuesday, 8:05 p.m. ET
Line: Cleveland -4.0, Total: 218.0

The short-handed Cavaliers will be looking to earn a big road victory over the Timberwolves on Tuesday.

Cleveland is playing some of its best basketball of the season right now, as the Cavaliers have now won-and-covered in five of their past six contests. They have shot better than 50.0% from the floor in four of their past six games, and they have also shot 45.0% or better in 12 of their past 13. The Cavaliers are, however, going to be without PF Kevin Love (Knee) for the next six or so weeks, and that is a big loss for this team. The Timberwolves, meanwhile, are also playing well recently. Minnesota has won-and-covered in two of its past three games, and the Timberwolves most recently blew out the Bulls on Sunday. Minnesota was a seven-point home favorite against Chicago, and the team won 117-89 in that one. These two teams did, however, meet very recently, and the Cavaliers won 125-97 as six-point home favorites in that game on Feb. 1. Cleveland has now won five straight games against Minnesota over the past three seasons, and the Cavs have covered in four of those five victories. The trend that stands out when looking at this game is that the Timberwolves are 0-9 ATS after a blowout win by 15 points or more over the past two seasons. Cleveland will, however, be without SG J.R. Smith (Thumb) for another couple of weeks, and SG Iman Shumpert (Ankle) is questionable for this one. The Timberwolves, meanwhile, will continue to be without SG Zach LaVine (Knee) for the rest of the season.

With Love out for the next few months, SF LeBron James (25.8 PPG, 8.8 APG, 7.8 RPG, 1.5 SPG) is going to need to play some of the best basketball of his career in order for the Cavaliers to keep their spot atop the Eastern Conference standings. The Celtics, Raptors and Wizards are all out for home court advantage in the playoffs, so James must find it in him to play at an even higher level moving forward. He did just that against the Nuggets last game, finishing with 27 points, 12 assists, five boards and two steals in 33 minutes of action. It’s likely that he’ll spend more time at the power forward position than usual, but he should be able to handle that. PG Kyrie Irving (24.4 PPG, 5.9 APG, 1.2 SPG) will also need to step it up with Love out. Irving will be needed to score a bit more moving forward, and he’ll probably enjoy that role. Over the past four games, he is averaging 26.8 PPG in 36.8 MPG. It’s not hard to imagine him averaging those types of numbers the remainder of the season. One last guy to keep an eye on is PF Derrick Williams (6.2 PPG, 2.7 RPG). Williams just signed with the Cavaliers last week, but he is averaging 9.5 PPG on 5-for-6 shooting from the field over the past two games. He is a very talented player and this is the perfect place for him to turn his career around. All he needs to do is focus on finishing around the rim, and he should see more minutes with Love out.

The Timberwolves have won two of their past three games, and SF Andrew Wiggins (22.6 PPG, 4.2 RPG) has been showing people why he was once considered a generational talent. Over the past five games, Wiggins is averaging 27.4 PPG on 52.0% shooting from the floor. He seems to have finally put things together offensively, and he’ll definitely want to play well against Cleveland on Tuesday. The Cavaliers are the team that traded him after the draft, and he’ll want to show them what they are missing in this one. PF Karl-Anthony Towns (23.7 PPG, 11.8 RPG, 1.5 BPG) has also been excellent for Minnesota, which is really nothing new. Towns is one of the best big men in the entire league, and he is averaging 29.8 PPG, 10.6 RPG and 1.0 SPG over the past five contests. Not only is he scoring that many points, but he has done so on 61.0% shooting from the field in that span. The Cavaliers are weakest inside, so it’s possible that Towns will be able to dominate this game. If he is really on his game then the Timberwolves just might pull off this upset.


FoxSheets.com
The FoxSheets - the most advanced sports handicapping information available on the internet.
Sign up for professional sports betting information including fantastic trends, and Free FoxSheets.
E-mail: