by Chuck Sommers
Saturday, Nov 19, 2022
Time: 7 p.m. ET
Venue: Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Cleveland, OH
Where to watch: BSOH, BSSUN
Opening Odds at USA Sportsbooks
DraftKings: NL
FanDuel: NL
BetMGM: NL
Caesars: NL
Season record
Heat: 7-9
Cavs: 9-6
What a thrilling start to the NBA season, and it's time to get your picks in for what should be an enticing season. A lot of new faces in new places already making an impact, and our champion handicappers are already starting to take notice. Look at our own Jack Banks off to a 3-0-0 start in the NBA this week. Nelly's Sports is also at 4-0-0 while Jim Feist has also cashed on his first two of the year. As the season progresses, you know we're going to be in a position to deliver you the best analysis and picks that one can have in this market. Make sure you check out our Best Bets page at bigal.com to find all of our handicappers' selections, comprehensive previews, and more!
Heat - Cavs preview, prediction and analysis
Recent form
Heat: lost 107-106 (OT) at Wizards on Friday
Cavs: won 132-122 (2OT) vs. Hornets on Friday
The Cleveland Cavaliers needed a win. Badly. Not just because they lost five in a row and needed to stop the bleeding, but for a young team that made a splash in the offseason trying to ensure that it wasn’t a flop, they’ve got to find a way to win. Now they go for two in a row Sunday at home against the struggling Miami Heat.
The Cleveland Cavaliers needed a win. Badly. Not just because they lost five in a row and needed to stop the bleeding, but for a young team that made a splash in the offseason trying to ensure that it wasn’t a flop, they’ve got to find a way to win. Now they go for two in a row Sunday at home against the struggling Miami Heat.
After losing five straight following an 8-1 start, the Cavs survived a 132-122 double overtime victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Friday, and it shouldn’t have even gotten there, to be honest. The Cavs had a 10-point lead in the final minute of regulation for the Hornets to force overtime, and then Cleveland had to damage control twice to survive.
Darius Garland had 41 points, Donovan Mitchell had 34.
“It’s never going to be perfect,” said Mitchell, barely able to crack a smile as he pulled a towel tighter around his neck. “It’s going to feel bad and look ugly, but that’s where growth comes from. We have to learn from this.”
It’s the same narrative for the Cavs. They’re good, potential to be great, but have to go through the process to get there. This isn't the situation of the Las Vegas Raiders where they say Rome wasn't built in a day and they completely suck. Cleveland actually has plausibility to want to say that they have growing pains and they need to get their hair and they hope to get there at some point. Until things completely fall off the rails in Cleveland, never count out this team.
Miami is in a interestingly different boat right now. The heat lost by one point to the Washington Wizards on Friday for their second consecutive loss, but have had to go about things due to injuries primarily to Tyler Herro. But in this game, the Heat didn’t have Jimmy Butler (knee), Bam Adebayo (knee) or Duncan Robinson (hand).
Miami actually got a really good balanced scoring attack despite playing only seven players. Unfortunately, the Washington Wizards have more of a collective unit of star power to withstand this kind of ridiculousness. Though I would say it would look more horribly on Washington to win by only one point against a team that had to play Kyle Lowry 51 minutes, but I digress. Lowry did finish with a team high 24 points, 15 assists, and 10 rebounds to give himself a triple double but he was literally the only one who could do anything else offensively.
“I let the guys down tonight,” said Heat forward Max Strus, who missed the game-winning shot at the buzzer and went 0-for-10 from 3 in the second half. “I disappeared in the second half. We had a lot of guys come up, step up, play hard, give us great minutes. We should have won the game.”
Prediction
If there’s no Butler or Adebayo on Sunday, this could be another good chance for the Cavs to continue to build. Cleveland is no Washington. The Cavs will not let Miami hang around coming in off some travel and a short lineup. Cavs by 10
Betting trends
Heat are 15-8 ATS when playing their third road game in 5 days the last 3 years.
Heat are 24-14 ATS off two straight unders the last three years.
Cavs are 36-18 ATS in the first half of the season the last three years.
Cavs are 21-19 ATS off a home win the last three years; 4-0 this season.
Projected starting lineup
Heat:
PG: Kyle Lowry
SG: Max Strus
SF: Caleb Martin
PF: Haywood Highsmith
C: Nikola Jovic
Cavs:
PG: Darius Garland
SG: Donovan Mitchell
SF: Caris LeVert
PF: Evan Mobley
C: Jarrett Allen
Key Injuries
Heat: Jimmy Butler (knee, out), Bam Adebayo (hand, questionable), Duncan Robinson (hand, doubtful), Tyler Herro (ankle, out), Gabe Vincent (knee, day-to-day)
Cavs: Kevin Love (thumb, doubtful), Dean Wade (knee, out), Ricky Rubio (knee, out)
Statistical leaders
Heat:
Points: Jimmy Butler -- 20.9
Rebounds: Bam Adebayo -- 9.1
Assists: Kyle Lowry -- 6.1
Cavs:
Points: Donovan Mitchell -- 31.2
Rebounds: Jarrett Allen -- 11.5
Assists: Donovan Mitchell -- 5.8
Don't miss our champion handicappers' free picks and expert basketball picks today. And if you enjoyed this Miami Heat - Cleveland Cavaliers prediction, be sure to drop by every day for our daily NBA projections and previews.
Chuck Sommers
About the Author:
Chuck Sommers has camped outside of sportsbooks since he can remember, learning the tricks and nuances of the trade. He still has nightmares of betting $5,000 on the Raiders in the Tuck Rule game but has since turned that to 25 years of veteran handicapping greatness. You can find him mostly in the shadows at the Red Rock or Aliante casinos wondering if the over is cashing on any given Sunday.
