OC Dooley
Cavaliers -2.5
Most reading this analysis remember Thursday of last week when on a “football” night ESPN’s charter Sportscenter spent the entire day broadcasting live from Cleveland in celebration of LeBron James return to the Cavaliers. While one of the most “hyped” regular season openers in league history turned into an outright loss, Cleveland came back the next night on the road and upset Chicago in an overtime thriller. For the moment one can argue that the Cavs are better off being “away” from the pressure of their own fans who have high expectations. Statistically LeBron has averaged 29.4 points per game when facing Portland in his career (third-highest mark versus any one team) while new teammate Kevin Love has averaged 26 points per pop the last ten times he has faced tonight’s opponent. Portland is in danger of losing 3 times in a four-game span which this franchise has not seen in FIVE long years. One of the problems for the Blazers has been the “cold” start of sharpshooter Damian Lillard who is averaging less than 14 points per outing