Festive atmosphere surrounds big matchup
Houston’s had a knack for flummoxing the Cavaliers in recent years. But does Mike D’Antoni’s group stand a chance on what could be a legendary night for the Buckeye State?
The NBA agreed to move up the start of Tuesday’s tilt to 6 p.m. ET to minimize the conflict with the Indians hosting Game 6 of the Fall Classic. Online sports book Bovada.lv gives the Cavs odds of -450 to remain undefeated. The Rockets, on the other hand, enter Quicken Loans Arena as +355 underdogs.
As usual, LeBron James has his squad humming through three contests. The four-time MVP posted 23 points, six rebounds and nine assists in last weekend’s 105-99 victory over Orlando. Interestingly, however, guard Kyrie Irving currently paces Cleveland in scoring.
Filling up the net never presents a problem for James Harden. Houston’s top threat is one of three players averaging at least 20 points and 10 dimes. D’Antoni, though, would certainly like to see greater consistency from newly acquired power forward Ryan Anderson.
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Having claimed seven of the past eight meetings in this series, the Rockets (2-1) understand far better than most how to keep James’ gang bottled up. Nonetheless, don’t discount the sheer amount of energy reverberating throughout the city right now. Expect the Cavaliers to feed off that, to the tune of a double-digit triumph.
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