Cleveland at Golden State

A bad beat for Cavs backers in Game 1, but this team might be done. They lost hard working frontcourt role player Varejo earlier in the year, lose Kevin Love in the first round of the playoffs, and now Kyrie Irving is done. How much talent can they lose before they break? Cleveland played just eight players in the opener, and veterans like Shawn Marion and Mike Miller never left the bench. Golden State has a huge edge in bench play anyway and their strategy not to double team LeBron James is a good one. Let him get 45, but don't leave other guys wide open to be difference makers. There's no reason for Cleveland to go uptempo with their lack of depth, so look for the Cavs to slow the pace down and focus on defense. Cleveland is 20-9-1 UNDER the total following a loss, plus 36-15-1 UNDER when their opponent allows 100 points or more in their previous game. Golden State didn't even play that well in the first half of Game 1, looking rusty, and still won by 8 points. This team had a lot of open looks that didn't drop in Game 1, a cause for concern if you like Cleveland. The Warriors are 20-5-1 ATS playing on two days rest, as well as 21-8-2 ATS at home against a team with a winning road record. In addition, Golden State is great on defense, No. 1 in the NBA in field goal shooting defense allowing 42% during the regular season. The Warriors are 7-1-1 UNDER the total at home, including a 10-3 run UNDER overall. The Cavaliers are also 3-10 ATS in the last 13 meetings, including 1-6 ATS at Golden State. Play Golden State in Game 2 and the game UNDER the total.