CLEVELAND vs DENVER
When: 2/10/2021 9:00 PM
Where: Ball Arena, Denver

TV: 9:00 PM
LINE: -9.5
PREDICTION: DENVER , CLEVELAND

Oddsmakers currently have the Denver Nuggets listed as -9.5 point favorites versus the Cleveland Cavaliers, while the game’s total is sitting at 225.

The Nuggets have gone 5-6 in home games. Denver ranks third in the Western Conference shooting 38.2% from downtown, led by JaMychal Green shooting 46.3% from 3-point range.

The Cavaliers are 3-8 in road games. Cleveland is 4-11 in games decided by at least 10 points.

The matchup Wednesday is the first meeting this season for the two teams.

TOP PERFORMERS:

Nikola Jokic leads the Nuggets with 8.5 assists and scores 27.5 points per game. Jamal Murray is averaging 14.6 points and 3.9 rebounds while shooting 38.0% over the last 10 games for Denver.

Collin Sexton leads the Cavaliers averaging 23.6 points and collecting 2.4 rebounds. Andre Drummond is averaging 11.4 rebounds and 16.2 points per game over the last 10 games for Cleveland.

LAST 10 GAMES:

Nuggets: 6-4, averaging 115.1 points, 46.7 rebounds, 26.1 assists, 8.3 steals and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 46.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 112.8 points on 47.1% shooting.

Cavaliers: 2-8, averaging 103.4 points, 41.7 rebounds, 21.6 assists, 7.1 steals and 5.9 blocks per game while shooting 45.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 115.9 points on 49.6% shooting.

INJURIES:

Nuggets: Greg Whittington: out (knee), PJ Dozier: out (hamstring), Gary Harris: out (left adductor).

Cavaliers: Larry Nance Jr.: out (finger), Matthew Dellavedova: out (concussion), Kevin Love: out (calf).

BOTTOM LINE: Cleveland will try to break its five-game road skid when the Cavaliers take on Denver.

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CLEVELAND vs PHOENIX
When: 2/8/2021 9:00 PM
Where:

TV: 9:00 PM
LINE:
PREDICTION: PHOENIX , CLEVELAND

Oddsmakers currently have the PHOENIX listed as 7.5 point favorites versus the CLEVELAND, while the game’s total is sitting at 215.

The Phoenix Suns appear to be getting comfortable at home again and will put their run of strong play up against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday.

The Suns have won five of their last six games, including two consecutive at home, to open a seven-game stretch in the desert. While the Cavaliers have been off their game of late, the Suns do have the Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets on the upcoming home schedule.

In order to not overlook the Cavaliers, who have lost three consecutive games and five of their last six, the Suns will look to match their effort from Sunday in a 100-91 victory over the Boston Celtics.

Phoenix had to hang on for the victory after leading by as many as 17 in the third quarter. A balanced Suns attack had five players in double figures, including four starters. Mikal Bridges led the way with 19 points, while Devin Booker had 18.

Cameron Johnson had 17 points, while Suns big man Deandre Ayton had 16 points with 11 rebounds. Point guard Chris Paul had 15 points, but it was Booker who took more of a distributor role with 11 assists to Paul’s two.

Ayton, whose energy has come into question at times this season, was the target of head coach Monty Williams’ wrath in the third quarter but responded well to help close out the Celtics.

“He has unreal talent and it’s not me getting on him, it’s calling him up to the talent that he has, and he responded,” Williams said.

The Suns won in front of an intimate gathering of 1,493 fans, the first time Phoenix has played in front of an audience for a home game this season.

“Oh, it was lit; time to put on a show,” Ayton said. “It’s was great to actually hear fans instead of the (recorded) audio.”

The Cavaliers will enter Monday’s game after dropping consecutive games to the Milwaukee Bucks at home. Andre Drummond had 28 points and 11 rebounds in Saturday’s 124-99 loss to Milwaukee. They fell by 18 points to the Bucks on Friday.

There were signs of hope when the Cavaliers defeated the Brooklyn Nets in consecutive games last month, but since then, they have gone 2-7.

Collin Sexton and Darius Garland had 17 points each Saturday for the Cavaliers, who went 1-3 on a four-game home stretch and are now starting a five-game road trip against Western Conference teams.

At the start of the new year, the Cavaliers were competitive by playing solid defense and will look to repeat that effort on the road trip.

“I don’t see why we can’t do it,” Drummond said. “We’ve done it before so it’s just a matter of getting that engine going again and watching what we do really well to get that back into our head. That this is what we need to do to be a good defensive team.”

Cleveland’s Kevin Love, who has not played since Dec. 27 because of a calf injury, might make his return during the road trip. He has missed 22 consecutive games but was working out on the court before Saturday’s game.

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MILWAUKEE vs CLEVELAND
When: 2/6/2021 8:05 PM
Where:

TV: 8:05 PM
LINE:
PREDICTION: CLEVELAND , MILWAUKEE

Oddsmakers currently have the Milwaukee listed as 10.5 point favorites versus Cleveland, while the game’s total is sitting at 229.5.

Milwaukee Bucks (14-8, second in the Eastern Conference) vs. Cleveland Cavaliers (10-13, ninth in the Eastern Conference)

Cleveland; Saturday, 8 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Milwaukee is looking to build upon its three-game win streak with a victory over Cleveland.

The Cavaliers are 2/3 against Central Division teams. Cleveland is 8-4 in games when scoring 100 or more points.

The Bucks are 11-5 in Eastern Conference play. Milwaukee ranks third in the NBA with 27.3 assists per game led by Khris Middleton averaging 5.9.

The teams square off for the second game in a row.

TOP PERFORMERS: Cedi Osman leads the Cavaliers with 2.3 made 3-pointers, and is averaging 12.4 points while shooting 36.3% from beyond the arc. Andre Drummond is averaging 15.1 points and 11.2 rebounds while shooting 39.9% over the last 10 games for Cleveland.

Giannis Antetokounmpo leads the Bucks averaging 27.3 points and is adding 11.2 rebounds. Middleton is averaging 19.1 points and 6.1 rebounds while shooting 50.6% over the last 10 games for Milwaukee.

LAST 10 GAMES: Cavaliers: 4-6, averaging 109.4 points, 43.8 rebounds, 22.5 assists, 7.9 steals and 6.2 blocks per game while shooting 45.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 116.4 points on 48.3% shooting.

Bucks: 6-4, averaging 121.2 points, 51 rebounds, 28.2 assists, 7.2 steals and 4.7 blocks per game while shooting 49.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 114.8 points on 46.1% shooting.

INJURIES: Cavaliers: Collin Sexton: day to day (neck), Larry Nance Jr.: out (wrist), Matthew Dellavedova: out (concussion), Kevin Love: out (calf).

Bucks: None listed.

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LA CLIPPERS vs CLEVELAND
When: 2/3/2021 8:00 PM
Where:

TV: 8:00 PM
LINE: 7.5
PREDICTION: CLEVELAND , LA CLIPPERS

Oddsmakers currently have the CLEVELAND listed as 7.5 point favorites versus the LA CLIPPERS, while the game’s total is sitting at 218.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are looking to the future, but don’t expect them to gaze past the visiting Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night.

Cleveland hopes to ride the momentum of its 100-98 win against the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night while taking advantage of a Los Angeles team that burnt plenty of steam in a 124-120 road loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday.

The victory by Cleveland was highlighted by the play of youngsters Jarrett Allen, Darius Garland and Collin Sexton, three players the Cavaliers hope will bring the franchise back to a championship level. Allen and Sexton are 22, and Garland just turned 21.

“The thing I think is great is you watch them work together, you watch them play together, and they don’t have to play on separate islands in isolation,” Cleveland coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “They can play together. That’s where there’s positive signs of what can come.”

Allen replaced Andre Drummond (lower back) in the starting lineup on Monday and produced 23 points and 18 rebounds in his first start since he was acquired from the Nets in the James Harden deal in mid-January.

Garland had 19 points and 11 assists against Minnesota, his first double-double since missing eight games last month with a shoulder injury. Sexton produced 26 points in 41 minutes.

“Defenses have their hands full,” Bickerstaff said. “Darius has the ability to make all the shots in the pick-and-roll, and Jarrett has the ability to vertically space and catch the ball in the pocket and make moves and make outlet passes.”

The Clippers faced their first test against a top opponent since early in the season when they squared off with the Nets on Tuesday night.

Los Angeles’ Kawhi Leonard and Paul George couldn’t quite match up against Harden, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant as the Clippers took only their second loss in the past 12 games.

Los Angeles committed just eight turnovers while the Nets gave the ball away 17 times, and the Clippers took 20 more shots.

“Usually in a game like that, we win,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said.

The Clippers are 3-0 in the second half of back-to-back sets this season, and it’s expected they’ll bring back their same starting lineup against the Cavaliers.

Leonard, who has appeared in 18 of 22 games this season, played 39 minutes against the Nets.

George, who has appeared in 19 games this season, played 36 minutes against Brooklyn.

The Clippers have been without Patrick Beverley the first five games of their road trip and don’t figure to have him back for the finale against the Cavaliers. Beverley is nursing a sore right knee.

“One thing for sure is, we missed Patrick Beverley (against the Nets),” Clippers forward Nicolas Batum said. “He would’ve been huge for us (Tuesday) night. So Pat, come back please.”

Cavaliers forward Larry Nance Jr. won’t play against the Clippers due to a right wrist injury that kept him out Monday.

Bickerstaff is perfectly comfortable giving his young players more game experience, especially against a team like the Clippers.

“Trust comes from actions,” he said. “To be able to have these moments, have the experience, have those actions, that’s where the trust is built and that’s how you get better. The more experience they get together, the more opportunities they get together, I think it’s gonna do nothing but get better and better.”

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MINNESOTA vs CLEVELAND
When: 2/1/2021 8:00 PM
Where:

TV: 8:00 PM
LINE:
PREDICTION: CLEVELAND , MINNESOTA

Oddsmakers currently have the CLEVELAND listed as 5.5 point favorites versus the MINNESOTA, while the game’s total is sitting at 217.5.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are banking that the comforts of home will help reverse their recent fortunes.

The Cavaliers look to rebound from yet another road loss on Monday when they open a four-game homestand against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Minnesota, which has all of five wins on the season, handed Cleveland its fourth loss in five games overall and seventh in 10 away from home with a 109-104 decision on Sunday.

The Timberwolves made 16 of 40 attempts from 3-point range, while the Cavaliers connected on just 4 of 16 shots from beyond the arc.

Malik Beasley and rookie Anthony Edwards each scored 23 points, with the former making five shots from 3-point range and the latter four times.

“Twenty-three points from a 19-year-old rookie is fantastic, but we’re not asking him to do that every night,” Minnesota coach Ryan Saunders said of Edwards. “We’re just asking him to continue to grow, and he’s doing that.”

Edwards, the top overall pick of the 2020 NBA Draft, is averaging 19.2 points over his past five games.

“We had to play with more grit,” Edwards said in a Fox Sports North postgame interview. “We just had to be all over the place because we were undersized. So, we had to be physical, fast and flying around.”

The reason the Timberwolves were undersized was the continued absence of Karl-Anthony Towns (COVID-19 protocol) in addition to Naz Reid, who has missed the last two games with a wrist injury.

The Cavaliers exploited the interior to the tune of scoring a season-high 72 points in the paint. Turnovers, however, were their undoing, with Darius Garland and Collin Sexton combining for nine of the team’s season-high 19 on the night.

“They’re big. Seventy-two points in the paint is a lot. Part of that with them is the size advantage that they do have on the inside,” Saunders said. “I liked the fouls that Ed (Davis) used. I liked a number of things that these guys did. I thought it was the definition of a team win. But you can’t be satisfied because games come quick. We run it back (Monday).”

On the flipside, Cleveland coach J.B. Bickerstaff hasn’t been too satisfied with his team’s play over the last two games.

“There’s been instances these last two games, in my mind, that we have not played to the standard of being the most competitive team and the most selfless team on the floor,” Bickerstaff said. “I think that was the case for a lot of (Sunday). I thought we got to a place where we built a lead and we got away from being who we are.”

Andre Drummond recorded 25 points and 22 rebounds, and Sexton added 16 while playing through an ankle injury that could affect his status for Monday’s game.

Garland finished with 17 points. He also had a pretty accurate response as to why the Cavaliers lost on Sunday.

“We beat ourselves,” Garland said.

Cleveland will look to prevent history from repeating itself on back-to-back nights on Monday.

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CLEVELAND vs MINNESOTA
When: 1/31/2021 8:00 PM
Where:

TV: 8:00 PM
LINE: 3
PREDICTION: MINNESOTA , CLEVELAND

Oddsmakers currently have the MINNESOTA listed as 3 point favorites versus the CLEVELAND, while the game’s total is sitting at 218.5.

Cleveland Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff isn’t interested in overreacting to his team’s worst offensive performance of the season.

Bickerstaff, in fact, is confident the Cavaliers will bounce back from their third loss in four games on Sunday night when they open a home-and-home series against the Minnesota Timberwolves in Minneapolis. The teams will reconvene in Cleveland the following night to open the Cavaliers’ four-game homestand.

“Not at all,” Bickerstaff said, when asked if Friday’s 102-81 setback at the New York Knicks was a sizable step back in terms of the team’s growth.

“We’ll be better on Sunday. We’ve got to do a much better job of passing the basketball to the open man. It’s a simple thing. It’s a simple adjustment to be made. It’s an easy thing for us to fix.”

Darius Garland scored 16 of his season-high 24 points after intermission on Friday. He highlighted the night with 4-of-6 shooting from 3-point range.

“We definitely get ahead of ourselves sometimes,” the 21-year-old Garland said. “But we’re growing into a really good team. We just have to lock in on both ends and play with each other. That’s the only way we’re gonna win games, when all five on the floor just play with each other.”

Collin Sexton averages team-best totals in points (24.6) and assists (4.3) this season. He averaged 18.5 points in a two-game season split versus Minnesota in 2019-20.

Sexton, however, made just 6 of 18 shots from the floor on Friday and misfired on all four of his 3-point attempts.

Andre Drummond increased his league-leading rebounding average to 14.7 after grabbing 15 boards on Friday. He mustered a season-low four points on 2-of-7 shooting versus the Knicks, however.

In addition to a sputtering offense, Cleveland also has endured significant road woes this season. Boston breezed to a 141-103 win over the Cavaliers last Sunday before New York’s runaway victory dropped the club to 3-6 away from Quicken Loans Arena.

While Cleveland has struggled on the road, Minnesota has tumbled head over heels regardless of venue. The Timberwolves have dropped three in a row overall and 14 of their last 16 games since winning the first two contests of the season.

Malik Beasley scored 22 points and D’Angelo Russell added 14 in Minnesota’s 118-94 shellacking by the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday.

Russell (20.1 points per game) and Beasley (20.0) are paving the way for the Timberwolves in the absence of two-time All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns, who has missed seven straight games due to COVID-19 protocols.

Injuries and absences forced Minnesota to use its 10th different starting lineup in 18 games on Friday.

Top overall pick Anthony Edwards was inserted into the lineup and scored 15 points on Friday, two days after erupting for 25 with five 3-pointers in a 123-111 loss at the Golden State Warriors.

“As professionals you’ve got to stay ready, no matter what,” Beasley said. “If it were a ballboy with us, you’ve got to stay ready.”

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CLEVELAND vs BOSTON
When: 1/24/2021 7:00 PM
Where:

TV: 7:00 PM
LINE: -6.5
PREDICTION: BOSTON , CLEVELAND

Oddsmakers currently have the BOSTON listed as -6.5 point favorites versus the CLEVELAND, while the game’s total is sitting at 214.

The Boston Celtics look to emerge from their first prolonged losing streak of the season when they host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday night.

The Celtics have dropped three straight, a stretch during which they have been without star forward Jayson Tatum as he recovers from COVID-19. Tatum was considered 50-50 to play in the team’s last game, a 122-110 setback against the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday.

The contest was Boston’s second defeat at division rival Philadelphia in three nights. Jaylen Brown had 42 points and nine rebounds during the losing effort on Friday, though he lamented his defensive play postgame.

“I can do more,” he said. “I will do more.”

Conversely, the Cavaliers are in the midst of their best stretch of the young season, having beaten the Brooklyn Nets in back-to-back meetings to extend their winning streak to three. Cleveland held off Brooklyn 125-113 on Friday night.

“Our identity has been established,” coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “What’s going to get us there is the experience of doing it night after night. We will continue this; this will be a work in progress all year long until we become what we believe we can become. But you have to do it every single game, and that’s the test for us.”

Sunday’s game marks the only matchup between the Celtics and Cavaliers this season. Boston has won the past eight meetings in the series.

While Brown has flourished during Tatum’s absence, the rest of the Celtics’ offense hasn’t quite pulled its weight. The team’s four other starters combined to score 46 points in Friday’s loss to the 76ers.

Still, coach Brad Stevens, like Brown, has been more critical of the defensive effort during the skid. Boston allowed its opponents to surpass 100 points in each of the three losses.

“Everybody’s got to be in the right spots all the time; everybody’s got to be spaced appropriately all the time and play with the right connectivity defensively,” Stevens said. “… Until we’re really committed to that … I just don’t see us being sustainably competitive.”

Restoring that consistency takes on extra urgency for the Celtics looking ahead to their upcoming schedule. After Sunday, the team plays seven of its next eight games on the road, including a five-game western swing.

Cleveland, meanwhile, can look ahead to six of eight games at home beginning Monday against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Cavaliers received a boost when guard Darius Garland returned from eight games missed with a shoulder injury to score 11 points in Friday’s win.

“When we’re a whole, healthy team, we’re very tough to beat,” center Andre Drummond said. “These were great games for us. We have all the tools to be a great team.”

The key to Cleveland’s turnaround has been third-year guard Collin Sexton, who has scored at least 20 points in each of the 10 games he has played this season. Sexton poured in a career-high 42 points in a double-overtime win over the Nets on Wednesday.

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CLEVELAND vs ATLANTA
When: 1/2/2021 7:35 PM
Where:

TV: 7:35 PM
LINE: -6.5
PREDICTION: ATLANTA , CLEVELAND

Oddsmakers currently have the ATLANTA listed as -6.5 point favorites versus the CLEVELAND, while the game’s total is sitting at 233.

The Hawks must find a way to slow Andre Drummond on Saturday when the Cleveland Cavaliers visit Atlanta.

Drummond has registered double-doubles in each of Cleveland’s first five games, tying the franchise record for the start of a campaign. He had 11 points and 13 rebounds Thursday in the Cavaliers’ 119-99 road loss to the Indiana Pacers to join Kevin Love (2019-20), Brad Daugherty (1991-92) and Mark Price (1988-89) with five season-opening double-doubles.

Drummond has a history of success against Atlanta. In 28 games against the Hawks, he is averaging 16.5 points and 14.9 rebounds. For the season, Drummond is averaging 18 points and a league-leading 14.8 rebounds.

The Cavaliers swept both games with Atlanta last season, winning 121-118 and 127-105, both contests in Cleveland.

Atlanta’s Trae Young totaled 57 points and 23 assists in those two games. In five career matchups with Cleveland, Young is averaging 27.4 points and 9.4 assists.

Young leads the Hawks with an average of 30.6 points per game this season. He was held to a season-low 21 points Friday in Atlanta’s 114-96 win over the Brooklyn Nets in New York. It was the first time this season he scored fewer than 29 points. Young was playing with right calf soreness but still logged 32 minutes.

The Hawks gained a split in the two-game series at Brooklyn, earning a bit of satisfaction after a 145-141 loss on Wednesday that ended Atlanta’s three-game, season-opening win streak. The Hawks were able to put the second game away, unlike the previous meeting, when they frittered away a late opportunity.

“This is what finishing is all about,” Atlanta coach Lloyd Pierce said. “Execution on both sides of the basketball.”

De’Andre Hunter scored 23 in the second game against the Nets, his season high. John Collins had 20 points Friday after scoring 30 on Wednesday, and he averaged nine rebounds in the two games.

Atlanta continues to juggle the lineup depending on player availability. Veteran Rajon Rondo did not play Friday because of left knee soreness, and Danilo Gallinari was out because of a right ankle injury that could cost him a few games.

Cleveland is set to play the second game of a six-game road trip. In the trek’s opener at Indiana, the Cavaliers were victimized by a passive approach to defense in the second half, which was a disappointment to coach J.B. Bickerstaff.

“Things are easy when they’re good,” he said. “Things become more difficult when it’s hard. That was the message to our guys. We have to do things decisively. You just can’t be hesitant.”

One of Cleveland’s consistent forces has been Collin Sexton, who scored 28 against the Pacers and has put up 20-plus points in 10 straight games dating to last season. JaVale McGee had 13 rebounds in 14 minutes on Thursday and became the first NBA player in 14 years to pull down 13-plus rebounds in 14 minutes or fewer.

The Cavaliers have lost two in a row since starting the season 3-0 for the first time since 2016-17, when they won their first six games.

Cleveland’s Kevin Porter Jr. will miss the game for ongoing personal reasons and Matthew Dellavedova (concussion) and Isaac Okoro (foot) are listed as out. Kevin Love (right calf strain) will miss at least three weeks.

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CLEVELAND vs INDIANA
When: 12/31/2020 3:05 PM
Where:

TV: 3:05 PM
LINE: -8
PREDICTION: INDIANA , CLEVELAND

Oddsmakers currently have the INDIANA listed as -8 point favorites versus the CLEVELAND, while the game’s total is sitting at 217.5.

The Cleveland Cavaliers and host Indiana Pacers will look to avenge disappointing losses when they meet to close out the calendar year on Thursday.

Indiana, in search of a 4-0 start, led the Boston Celtics by as many as 17 points on Tuesday. But a disastrous run in the fourth quarter doomed the Pacers to a 116-111 defeat.

“Down the stretch, we didn’t necessarily make plays or get stops when we needed to. We also put them on the (free-throw) line too much,” Indiana’s Victor Oladipo said.

In Tuesday’s loss, the Pacers sent Boston to the foul line for 37 attempts, as opposed to just 16 for Indiana. Just two nights earlier in a 108-107 defeat of the Celtics, Boston shot 24 free throws.

That still outpaced Indiana, which attempted just 15. The Pacers come into Thursday’s contest ranked 24th in the NBA with 19.8 opponent free-throw attempts per game, but have thrived elsewhere defensively.

They are ninth in the league with 17.0 turnovers generated per game, and fourth in opponent two-point field-goal percentage at 48.0. The sample size may be small, but continue trends from a season ago when Indiana ranked No. 13 in turnovers created and No. 9 in two-point field-goal percentage allowed.

Another promising trend from last season that carried over into the early going of 2020-21 for the Pacers has been the play of forward Domantas Sabonis. An All-Star in 2019-20, Sabonis has increased both his point-per game and assist production. He also made the game-winning shot in Indiana’s win over Boston on Sunday.

Sabonis leads the Pacers against a Cleveland frontcourt down veteran Kevin Love. The forward aggravated a calf injury in the Cavs’ 118-94 rout of Philadelphia on Sunday and will be re-evaluated in three to four weeks.

Love missed the Cavaliers’ 95-86 loss to New York on Tuesday, their first defeat of the 2020-21 season. Cleveland failed to score in triple digits for the first time on the campaign, shooting a dismal 36.4 percent from the floor.

Still, the Cavaliers took some reason for optimism out of the loss.

“If it was last year, or the year before, and we (were) missing this many shots, we probably would have lost by 20, 25, 30,” Collin Sexton said.

In finishing with an Eastern Conference-worst 19-46 a season ago, Cleveland lost by an average of 7.9 points per game. The 2019-20 Cavaliers did not reach three wins, this year’s start, until eight games in, and did not win three consecutive until games Nos. 28-30.

The 2020-21 campaign is off to a much stronger start, thanks in part to the emergence of the Sexton-Darius Garland backcourt. Sexton is averaging 25.3 points per game on 53.5 percent shooting from the floor, while Garland has posted 18.5 points and 7.8 assists per game.

Post presence Andre Drummond, acquired around the trade deadline from Detroit last season, has averaged 19.8 points and 15.3 rebounds per game.

“The hard work we put in during the offseason and just the camaraderie that we have as a unit is looking really good,” Drummond said.

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NEW YORK vs CLEVELAND
When: 12/29/2020 7:05 PM
Where:

TV: 7:05 PM
LINE: -3.5
PREDICTION: CLEVELAND , NEW YORK

Oddsmakers currently have the CLEVELAND listed as -3.5 point favorites versus the NEW YORK, while the game’s total is sitting at 217.5.

The Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks have been in sync in all the wrong ways the past two seasons.

The two teams are again traveling parallel paths in the early days of the 2020-21 campaign, except this time they’re each trying to establish themselves as the NBA’s early surprise success story.

The Cavaliers and Knicks look to build upon the momentum generated by routs of Eastern Conference contenders when they meet Tuesday night in Ohio.

Both teams earned resounding home wins Sunday, when the Cavaliers remained perfect with a 118-94 win over the Philadelphia 76ers and the Knicks recorded their first victory of the season by stunning the Milwaukee Bucks, 130-110.

Such performances represent dramatic departures from recent norms for the Cavs and Knicks, who won 36 and 40 games, respectively, the previous two seasons combined — the lowest and second-lowest totals in the NBA. But such showings are providing evidence of the new cultures being built by head coaches J.B. Bickerstaff and Tom Thibodeau.

Under Bickerstaff — who replaced John Beilein on Feb. 19 and was signed to a long-term deal on March 10 — the Cavaliers have built their early surge with an unselfish offense and an aggressive defense. Cleveland leads the NBA with 31.3 assists and 12.7 steals per game after ranking 24th and 25th in those categories last season.

At 3-0, the Cavaliers have a chance to build their first four-game regular-season winning streak since a five-game streak from March 28 through April 5, 2018, which came at the end of LeBron James’ second stint with his hometown team.

“Credit to these guys for buying in,” Bickerstaff said Sunday night. “But when we put this together, we just feel like it’s the right way to play the game. It’s not something that’s unique or special by any means. But it’s the way the game should be played — trying to play the game as purely as you can. And that’s what the guys have bought into, playing agenda-less basketball.”

Thibodeau, a former Knicks assistant who later directed the Chicago Bulls and Minnesota Timberwolves as head coach, was hired by New York on July 30 to try to reverse the fortunes of a franchise that has lost an NBA-high 999 games since Jan. 1, 2000.

The Knicks led the Indiana Pacers by five points at halftime of Wednesday’s season opener and trailed the 76ers by five points Saturday night at the break, but were outscored by a combined 109-75 in the second half of those games.

Those fades made Sunday’s finishing kick particularly satisfying for New York, which led 61-45 at the half and opened the lead to as many as 28 before the Bucks emptied the bench early in the fourth quarter.

“I told the guys before the game — after watching the film, I felt better about how we played in that game (against Philadelphia),” Thibodeau said Sunday. “I can see the growth from the start, and to carry it over against a quality team like Milwaukee — we played well in the first half and today we carried it over and I thought we played well in the second half.”

Cavaliers power forward Kevin Love, who left after nine minutes due to a lingering calf injury, was scheduled to undergo an MRI Monday and has been ruled out for Tuesday. Knicks rookies Obi Toppin (right calf) and Immanuel Quickley (hip) each sat for a second straight game Sunday. Toppin is expected to miss the next 7-10 days, the team announced Monday.

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