Celtic Pride: Celtics vs Cavs Line & Analysis
Boston Can Take Firm Control of Series
So far through three games, the Celtics-Cavaliers second round Miami Heat. After an easy home win in Game 1, the Celtics lost a lopsided Game 2 to Cleveland at TD Garden before handedly beating up the Cavaliers in Game 3, 106-93. Now up 2-1 in the series, Boston can take a commanding two-game lead by winning Monday’s Game 4. The Celtics vs Cavs line has the Celtics as -315 moneyline favorites and as eight-point favorites on the spread. The point total is 208 points.
After a tightly contested first quarter, the NBA scores.
The Cavaliers didn’t play poorly; they just couldn’t match Boston’s shot-making and play creation. Donovan Mitchell scored an efficient 33 points and Caris LeVert added 15 points off the bench but it just wasn’t enough. Cleveland only shot 43 percent from the field and 33 perfect from three while letting the Celtics shoot over 51 percent from the field and 38 percent from three. That math won’t work for Cleveland.
Location: Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Cleveland, Ohio
Day/Time:
Streaming: TNT
Boston Will Be Motivated
While winning Game 2 gave the Cavaliers plenty of life in this series, it also — to their detriment — may have woken the Celtics up a bit. Boston was locked in all night on Saturday and wasn’t ready to go down in this series. You can be sure that a team of their caliber won’t have a let down on Monday night. This Celtics core hasn’t been able to get over the hump in the postseason and it certainly has a great opportunity to run through the East if it can get by Cleveland, which the Celtics vs Cavs line expects it to.
Even without Kristaps Porzingis, Boston has been able to generate plenty of good offense against a Cleveland team missing its interior presence Jarrett Allen. The Celtics have still been taking plenty of threes — usually, around 40-45% of their shots are from distance — but they have been more successful when going to the basket because they don’t have anyone to replace Allen. Guys like Marcus Morris Sr. and Tristan Thompson have had their playoff successes in the past but they can’t really be called upon for meaningful minutes.
Boston can sense that it has a chance to make it to the NBA Finals schedule as long as it can take care of business in this series and, if they get there, in the Eastern Conference Finals. However, it’s clear that the Cavaliers won’t go away easily even if Game 3 was their first home loss of the playoffs. As long as Mitchell is on the floor, Cleveland has a chance.
Mitchell Needs Help
A major storyline in this series — and a big reason why the Cavaliers are such sizable home underdogs on the Celtics vs Cavs line — is Cleveland’s inability to consistently get production from guys other than Mitchell. LeVert, Evan Mobley, and Darius Garland all scored in double figures in Game 3 but it wasn’t nearly enough because those guys aren’t big three-point shooters and the Cavaliers had to play from behind for most of the second half.
Garland has to be more efficient and shoulder more of the offensive burden because Mitchell is asked to do too much. Mobley has to keep serving as Cleveland’s top interior scoring threat, LeVert has to continue to be aggressive at penetrating the Boston defense and the combination of Max Strus and Sam Merrill has to get hot from three. Strus and Merrill are the Cavaliers’ best pure shooters but they haven’t gotten going in this series.
Because Cleveland isn’t much of a perimeter threat, the Celtics have been able to crash the paint and stifle Cleveland’s offense. A more-stretched floor would open up things for the Cavaliers and help their NBA odds.
Take Boston And The Over
If the Celtics are going to live up to their odds as one of the favorites to be named the 2024 NBA champions, they can’t mess around with the Cavaliers. The fewer games they have to play, the better chances Boston has of avoiding injuries and ensuring that they stay fresher should they be able to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals and beyond.
As eight-point favorites on the spread and -315 moneyline favorites, Vegas is expecting Boston to easily get by the Cavaliers on Monday. Based on how these series have gone for the Celtics, they should be able to replicate their performance from Saturday.
Also, the over is the right call. 208 points is definitely low in a series that has easily gone over that total in two of the three games. The under hit in Game 3 but that was because the game was played at a surprisingly low pace. Look for Cleveland to try and speed things up to get its offense going.
Boston Celtics vs Cleveland Cavaliers Odds
For NBA live scores, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.
