The NBA games betting odds favor the Cleveland Cavaliers when they host the Boston Celtics, but the Cavs will also reportedly be the proverbial bigger man, as word has it that the Cavs intend to honor Kyrie Irving with a “thank you” video package, even though the flat-earther could be said to be, as the phrase goes, the elongated, legless, ectothermic, amniote vertebrate covered in overlapping scales that they nurtured in their bosom.
- Date: Tuesday, 17th October
- Time: 8:10 PM
- Venue: Quicken Loans Arena
- Online sportsbook odds for fans betting on NBA games:
Celtics +3½ (-110) 212 (-110) +145
Cavaliers -3½ (-110) 212 (-110) -165
Kyrie’s heel turn
Should the Cavs truly pay homage to Irving, it will certainly stand in stark contrast with the fans’ reception, which will surely be no hero’s welcome. “We’ve got the best fans in the world and they’re going to do whatever they see best,” Cavs head coach Tyronn Lue said. “Whatever decision they make, that’s the right one. Because they’ve been behind us for three straight years, since I’ve been here, they’ve always made the right decisions. So whatever they decide to do, I embrace whatever they do.” The local crowd will, all things considered, give Irving the kind of reception that awaits also Gordon Hayward when the Celtics visit Utah. Jaylen Brown, Al Horford, and rookie Jayson Tatum, who will have the thankless job of guarding LeBron James (and he’ll have to guard the hell out of him if the Celts want to cover, but more on that later) roundup Boston’s projected starting lineup. The Celtics are 7-2 ATS in their last nine road games but the Cavs are 7-1 SU and against the spread as set by NBA games betting odds-makers in their last eight games as a favourite of 3.5 or fewer points.
It’s good to be King and have your own way
The only reprieve for Tatum would be in the way of James’ sprained ankle keeping him, LeBron, from playing the season opener. Lue said he’s preparing for the game as if James is playing, but failing that, JR Smith will start in the King’s stead. Smith himself, however, sees it differently. “Oh, he’s going to go,” Smith said of James following Monday’s practice. “He’s going to go, trust me on that. I don’t care what he’s got to do, he’s going to play.” why? “Just because he loves the game.” well, but who doesn’t love it? At least in the 90s they did.
LeBron missed four of Cavs’ five preseason games, and Cleveland went 1-4 in the preseason. Now, exhibition games are meaningless but that doesn’t change the fact that the Cavaliers are 4-23 SU in games without James in the last three seasons. But NBA games betting odds -makers are confident, what with the Cavs being 3.5-point faves, that the King will indeed play. In which case, it’ll also be very likely that the total will go over, as it has in four of the Celtics’ last five visits to the Quicken Loans Arena.