Posted on
4/18/2008 5:16:30 PM
Basketball Playoff Betting Preview - Washington at Cleveland
By Charles Jay
WHAT: Game 1 of Eastern Conference Playoff series
WHO: Washington Wizards (43-39 SU, 46-35-1 ATS) at Cleveland Cavaliers (45-37 SU, 37-45 ATS)
WHERE: Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland
WHEN: Saturday, April 19 at 12:30 PM ET
BetUS NBA online basketball betting odds: Cleveland -2, Total 188
In the HEAD-to-HEAD NBA basketball betting trends:
* CLEV has covered four of the last six meetings
* CLEV has won seven of the last nine meetings SU
* Five of the last seven meetings have gone OVER the total
* WASH has covered five of the last seven meetings as the road team
* CLEV has won the last five meetings SU as the home team
* Fourteen of the last 20 meetings at Cleveland have gone UNDER the total
It would appear that many of the technical numbers would favor the Cavaliers in this matchup, as least as far as the head-to-head history is concerned. But Washington has not played badly down the stretch, and the Wizards have something of a revenge-minded streak in them. If you recall, on the second night of the season, the Wizards, who had Gilbert Arenas in the lineup at the time, went to Boston and found themselves buried by 20 points, in a game that was not that close. Well, Washington came back from that and handed Boston three of its 16 losses after that.
The Cavs swept the Wizards in last year's playoffs, but of course Washington was not close to full strength, as it was forced to play with Arenas and high-scoring forward Caron Butler. In way of payback, Washington came within one point of sweeping all four meetings with Cleveland. And now, with bulletin board material provided by Arenas on his blog, which is designed to give his own team a lift more than anything else, Washington, which now has the services of its own "Big Three" (Arenas, Butler and Antwan Jamison, who did averaged over 20 points and 10 boards this year). When Washington has all hands on deck, it is a tough team to beat.
DeShawn Stevenson and Brendan Haywood round out the starters, and that gives the Wizards the kind of balance Cleveland wishes it had. The Cavs are always going to be dangerous as long as they have steel-nerved LeBron James in the lineup, but they have had a hard time integrating all the new personnel - including Ben Wallace and Delonte West - into the rotation. Team chemistry was - and is - a problem, and the Cavs came past the quarter pole and down the stretch having won just eight of their last 18 games.
Cleveland has had a difficult time at home from the pointspread standpoint, as the team covered just one of its last seven and 15 out of 41. So Washington can walk through that door and capture game 1 of this series, grabbing two points in the BetUS NBA betting odds.
JAY'S PLAY: WASHINGTON
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(Charles Jay of http://www.eBookies.com is a freelance writer and handicapper who not only can make his shots from the top of the key, but also contributes with gusto to the BetUS Locker Room)