NBA betting favors LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers as they host the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday. Cleveland has done very well in this series against Toronto, winning eight of the last ten straight up and covering six of the ten against the basketball betting line.NBA betting odds earlier this season favored Cleveland in all three of their meetings against Toronto. The Cavaliers won two of the three but they only covered the spread once. They split in Toronto, winning 126-118 but losing 101-91. They beat the Raptors in Cleveland by a score of 108-100 but did not cover the 10-point basketball betting number. Two of those three games went over the total.
Toronto is still not a lock to make the playoffs. They are in 8th place with the Bulls right on their heels. This would be a huge win to get for the Raptors but it is unlikely. Cleveland rarely loses at home and the Raptors are not a very good road team. This could easily be a first round matchup in the playoffs and if so, Toronto is done. They don’t matchup that well with Cleveland. Toronto has Chris Bosh but the rest of their roster simply doesn’t throw fear into opponents. The Bulls would scare a playoff team in NBA betting more than Toronto does. The Raptors can score as they are 5th in the league in offense but they can’t stop anyone on the other end. They rank 27th in the league in defense and that is simply not going to get it done. Playing no defense rarely works in the NBA unless you are a team like Phoenix who can score a ton of points.
Cleveland has pretty much wrapped up everything heading into the playoffs. They are going to finish first in the Eastern Conference and they lead the Lakers for first overall in the league. The Cavaliers don’t lose often at home but it should be noted that they are not very good against the NBA betting odds. The Cavaliers have a losing record vs. the number in home games this season. Cleveland is excellent on defense and they have a top ten offense led by LeBron James. That should be enough to get them past the Raptors with the only question being whether they cover the big NBA betting pointspread or not.