Cleveland at Utah

Two games with Golden State and one with the Lakers have positioned Utah to look like a high flying, high scoring team. That simply is not true and their game vs. Houston is more representitive of what to expect here. Cleveland just has not gotten the offense going, and when they square off with some of the better teams, their game is intensified on the defensive end. Last year in 20 playoff games, the Cavs opponent scored 90+ only seven times while they reached that mark themselves only nine times. The last time these teams met they produced a combined 63 first half points! Teams that close out the season with four or more straight losses (Cleveland was swept by San Antonio), have played UNDER the first half total 80.4% of the time the following season in early play. Road teams off an upset win as a dog, with a total posted in this range have been 163-92 ATS to the first half UNDER over the last five years, cashing 64% of the time. We will ride the trends and play this one to go UNDER the first half total.