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Expert Picks
The home team has won and covered every game in this series, but I like Toronto’s recent adjustments. The Raptors’ defensive length and discipline have become a problem for the Cavs’ All-Star backcourt. Cleveland wins but this is too many points.

I think we see a much more aggressive Evan Mobley tonight with this series returning to Cleveland and tied at 2-2 a piece. It should come as little surprise that the Cavs won both games when Mobley was assertively offensively and lost both games where he wasn’t engaged. Look for Mobley who averaged 18 PPG in the regular season to make a big impact in Game 5.

Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett are each averaging close to 25 ppg for the Raptors this series. One of them is scoring 20+ again here. I learn Barrett because the Cavaliers rank 27th in ppg allowed to the power forward spot, and the Cavs' defense, average in general, is focusing more on other spots. RJ can take advantage again.

Scottie Barnes has been amazing this series and is averaging a robust 25/7/5 while serving as the Raptors primary playmaker. With that being said, this is a large combo line for Barnes who averaged just 13 combined Reb+Ast in the regular season. These games have been paced down and I expect that to be the case tonight in Game 5.

Collin Murray-Boyles has gone over his Points+ Rebounds prop in 10 of the last 11 games, clearing 20 points in seven of them. He's hit is prop in all four games this series, going for 18, 24, 30, and 25 P+R. The game he got 18? That was in 20 minutes. He's played 25+ minutes in the last three games and has hit the over in this prop in 8 of the last 9 in which he has reached 25 minutes.

RJ Barrett is averaging 24.3 points and 36.8 minutes in this series -- both second on the team behind Scottie Barnes. Barrett is getting so many minutes because he's playing high-level defense, something he has not always done in the past. Barrett is up for an extension this offseason; he's proving his value against Cleveland. He's also benefitting from the Cavs putting their top two defenders, Dean Wade and Evan Mobley, on Brandon Ingram and Barnes. With Barrett shooting 55.2 percent in this series and not hesitating to let it fly, I bet him to get 20-plus points Wednesday.

Collin Murray-Boyles only played 20 minutes in Game 1,but finished with 14 points and four rebounds. After the productive performance, the Raptors have given him at least 26 minutes in each of the last three games. During that three-game span, he averaged 18.0 points and 8.3 rebounds. Jakob Poeltl is having a bad series and hasn’t played more than 21 minutes in any of the four games. Murray-Boyles has a path to 25+ minutes again, making the over the way to go here.

The Raptors continue to play without Immanuel Quickley (hamstring), who has been ruled out for the remainder of the first round. He averaged 16.4 points a game this season, so his absence is a big one. With him out, Scottie Barnes has scored at least 21 points in all four games against the Cavaliers. He is taking more than two shots a game compared to his regular season average. He is also averaging 9.3 free throw attempts in the series. With the Raptors trying to pull off the road upset and grab a 3-2 series lead, look for Barnes to continue to have an elevated usage rate.

Caesar’s. During his tenure in Cleveland, Donovan Mitchell has cleared this line in 13/15 home playoff games, including each of the last ten. In those games, Spida averages 23.5 shot attempts and 9.5 free throws tries. While each game was against a different opponent in a unique circumstance, the magnitude of this Game 5 can’t be understated, with the Cavs dropping both games in Toronto. James Harden look checked out and Jarrett Allen has turned into his own “lights are too bright” meme. I’m expecting Mitchell to force the issue tonight - and for what it’s worth, he has 35+ P+R in all three home games versus Toronto this season, including Games 1 and 2.
Team Injuries









