Cavs expect tired Boston!

With Cleveland against Boston, a top game in the East is coming up. The home side are fourth and the visitors second in the Eastern Conference.

The Cavs can rely on the home bonus in this match-up: Only the league leader in the East from Milwaukee acts more successful at home than the basketballers from Ohio.

Cleveland Cavaliers – Statistics & current form

The Cavs have only lost seven of 34 games on their own turf. Against this backdrop, one can certainly speak of a fortress in the case of Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

Cleveland’s successful season so far has been largely due to consistently strong defensive performances. Memphis alone ranks ahead of head coach J.B. Bickerstaff’s team in defensive rating for 100 possessions.

Boston Celtics – Statistics & current form

Boston recently gave up the league lead to Milwaukee and slackened off a bit in their performances. Head coach Joe Mazzulla’s team suffered two losses against the Knicks and a defeat against the Nets in the last five games. The Celtics are also in a bit of a tight spot as forward Robert Williams and guard Malcolm Brogdon are both out due to injury.

However, the men from the TD Garden can counter Cleveland’s aforementioned home strength with their very successful results away from home to date. No team in the East has a higher win percentage than the Celtics (64.5 per cent).

Cleveland Cavaliers – Boston Celtics tip

The three previous season duels between the Cavs and Boston were each very close. The first two ended only after overtime in favour of Cleveland and in the last meeting a few days ago, the Celtics recorded a 117:113 home victory. Now we can expect another nailbiter.

In the NBA clash between Cleveland and Boston, however, the tip is for a home win. The hosts are very strong at home and the visitors have a particularly exhausting game from the previous night in their bones.

Here they conceded defeat to the Knicks after two overtimes. It was already the third defeat in the last five games. The drop in performance can be explained by a number of absences, among other things, which is why the Celtics can currently be considered weakened.