Simulation Picks
Maximize Your Odds of Winning with SportsLine Model and Our Top-Rated Picks
Maximize Your Odds of Winning with SportsLine Model and Our Top-Rated Picks
Maximize Your Odds of Winning with SportsLine Model and Our Top-Rated Picks
Understanding Public and Money
Read More
Expert Picks
Donovan Mitchell has hit this with everything working against him. He had 6 assists and 7 assists at Orlando, despite the team's overall bad offensive performance. When the series was in Cleveland, the Cavs had a big edge on the boards, I expect them to return to that here in game 5. Jarrett Allen's questionable status could also open up the boards for Mitchell.
Unless completely dismissing the series trends in this matchup, the angle to note is starring us right in the face. This has been the quintessential home-team series thus far, with the host side winning and covering resoundingly in the first four games. It would seem that advantage, then, would swing back to the Cavs after their face-plants in Orlando. Though Cleveland has yet to crack the 100-point mark in this series, Donovan Mitchell was scoring at a slightly-advanced clip (26.5 ppg) in the first two games of this series at home, when the visiting Magic couldn't crack 86 points. There is a case for "under" here as well but would rather just stick with the series home trends in Game 5. Play Cavs
Orlando failed to score 90-points in both road games. They’ve only averaging 84.5 points on the road thus far. The total is also another very low total. The Magic have shot 23.6% from beyond the arc combined in Cleveland and while there might be some positive regression, they've struggled rebounding the basketball on the road.
The home team has won every game in the series by double digits, and I really see no reason why that changes Tuesday back in Cleveland. The Magic didn't top 86 points in either of the first two games there -- not leading once -- and are now 18-25 away on the season. The Cavs are looking to win three straight home games in a playoff series for the first time since winning the 2018 Eastern Conference Finals vs. Boston.