The Cleveland Cavaliers will play their second straight game at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, as they battle the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night. The Cavaliers are coming off a loss to the Clippers on Friday night. The Cavaliers are 38-27 on the season, which is third in the Eastern Conference, but just 1/2 game ahead of Washington. Cleveland has gone 16-16 this season on the road.
The Los Angeles Lakers have started to play better basketball, but are going to be too little too late to make the postseason out of the Western Conference. The Lakers are 29-36 on the season, and 16-15 when playing at home. Los Angeles is 11th in the Western Conference, just 6.5 games behind a trio of teams for the 8th seed. The Cleveland Cavaliers are -2.5 over the Los Angeles Lakers in NBA action on Sunday.
Ball Back for Lakers
The Los Angeles Lakers have got their point guard Lonzo Ball back, and they have played pretty wel since then. The rookie point guard is scoring just 10.6 points per game, but is one of 8 guys on the Lakers roster throughout this season with double digit average. Jordan Clarkson is one of of them, and was traded to Cleveland earlier in the season. Brandon Ingram leads the Lakers with 16.2 points per game. This will also be the first game for Isaiah Thomas for the Lakers against his old teammates.
The Lakers are in third place in the Pacific Division, behind the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers. Los Angeles on the season is scoring 108.4 points per game, which is the 8th best in all of the NBA. The Lakaers are going to far surpass their win total of a season ago, as they won just 26 games.
Cavaliers Looking to Heat Up
As part of that trade, the Cavaliers picked up Larry Nance and Jordan Clarkson. Those two are the fourth and fifth highest scorers on the Cavaliers roster. LeBron James continue to rock and roll with nearly 27 points per game, and ripping down shy of 9 rebounds per game. Kevin Love is still out for Cleveland. He has played just 48 games this season, and is averaging just under 18 points per game.
One of the biggest issues with the Cleveland Cavaliers has been their poor defense. The Cavaliers are allowing opponents to score 109.8 points per game. The Cavaliers are going to have to pick it up if they want to get back to 50 regular season wins for the fourth straight season. Last year, Cleveland won 51 games.
Cleveland Gets Back on Track
The Cleveland Cavaliers need to get back on track, and this is a game to do so. The LAkers and Cavaliers have both struggled to play defense this season, but the Cavaliers are the team that is going to play it a little bit better in this game. Cleveland wins this game on the road at the Staples Center. Bet on the Cleveland Cavaliers -2.5 over the Los Angeles Lakers in NBA action on Sunday.
