Cleveland Cavaliers vs Boston Celtics Prediction, 5/7/2024 Preview and Pick

Game: Cleveland Cavaliers vs Boston Celtics

Date: Tuesday, May 7, 2024

Location: TD Garden in Boston, MA

TV: TNT

Odds/Point Spread: Cleveland (+11)

The Cleveland Cavaliers are headed to TD Garden on Tuesday where they will take on the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Boston opens this contest as 11-point favorites from Vegas oddsmakers. The over/under comes in at 208.5.

The Cavaliers took the court against the Magic and went home with a win by a final score of 106-94 in Game 7 of their 1st round series. Cleveland ended with a 44.2% field goal percentage (34 out of 77) and knocked down 8 out of their 24 three-point shots. From the charity stripe, the Cavaliers made 30 of 36 tries for a rate of 83.3%. In terms of rebounding, they earned 48 with 10 of them being of the offensive variety. They also doled out 19 assists in the matchup while forcing the opposition into 17 turnovers and getting 8 steals. Concerning the defense, Cleveland let their opponent shoot 33.7% from the floor on 29 out of 86 shooting. Orlando dished out 17 assists and had 11 steals in this game. On top of that, Orlando collected 49 rebounds (18 offensive, 31 defensive) and got 8 blocked shots. Orlando shot 86.7% at the charity stripe by knocking down 26 of their 30 attempts. They also made 10 of their 31 tries from beyond the arc. Regarding personal fouls, the Cavaliers left the arena with 23 and the Magic finished the game with 32 personal fouls.

Donovan Mitchell is one player who was a factor in this game. He was able to score 39 points on 11 out of 27 shooting. He played for 45 mins and pulled down 9 rebounds. Mitchell finished the game shooting 40.7% from the floor and dished out 5 dimes.

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Cleveland heads into this contest with a mark of 48-34 this year. They average 112.6 points per game (20th in basketball) while going 47.9% from the floor. The Cavaliers are shooting 36.7% on 3-point shots (1,108 of 3,016) and 76.5% from the charity stripe. As a team, Cleveland is snagging 43.3 rebounds per contest and has tallied 2,299 dimes so far this season, which ranks 8th in the league in terms of passing the rock. They cough up possession 13.6 times per contest and as a basketball team they commit 17.5 personal fouls on a nightly basis.

When they are on defense, the Cavaliers are able to force 13.6 turnovers per game and they draw 18.7 personal fouls. They are currently ranked 6th in the NBA in giving up assists to their opponents with 2,071 surrendered for the campaign. The Cavaliers defensively are giving up an opponent FG percentage of 46.3% (3,323 of 7,176) and they relinquish 42.7 boards per game as a unit. They surrender 37.1% from 3-point land and they are ranked 7th in the NBA in PPG allowed (110.2).

When they last stepped on the court, the Celtics went home victorious with a score of 118-84 when they played the Heat to close out their 1st round series. The Celtics snagged 48 defensive boards and 8 offensive boards for a total of 56 for this contest. They turned the ball over 14 times, while getting 5 steals in this matchup. The Heat were called for 17 personal fouls for the contest which took the Celtics to the charity stripe for a total of 27 tries. They were able to knock down 18 of the free throw attempts for a rate of 66.7%. When discussing 3-point attempts, Boston made 16 of their 40 tries (40.0%). When the final whistle was blown, the Celtics finished 42 for 77 from the field which had them shooting 54.5%. The Celtics allowed the Heat to make 36 out of 87 tries from the field which gave them a percentage of 41.4% in this matchup. They went 10.3% from distance by going 3 out of 29 and finished the contest at 9 of 10 at the free throw line (90.0%). In relation to rebounding, Boston permitted Miami to grab 29 in total (2 offensive).

Jaylen Brown ended up having an impact for the Celtics for this game. He buried 11 of 19 for this game giving him a field goal percentage of 57.9%, and had 6 rebounds. Brown scored 25 points in his 26 mins of playing time and accumulated 2 dimes for this contest.

Boston has a mark of 64-18 for the year. The Celtics are committing 16.2 fouls per game and they connect on 80.7% from the free throw line. They are assisting teammates 26.9 times per game (14th in the league) and they are losing possession via turnover 11.9 times per game. Boston has earned 9,887 pts on the year (120.6 per contest) and they pull down 46.3 rebounds per game. As an offense, the Celtics are shooting 48.7% from the field, which is 8th in the league.

The Boston defense concedes 35.2% from downtown (1,059 of 3,008) and their opponents are making 76.8% of their shots from the charity stripe. They have surrendered 24.9 assists and 43.3 boards every game, which is 5th and 14th in the league. The Celtics on defense are ranked 5th in basketball in points allowed per game with 109.2. They are forcing their opponents into 12.0 turnovers on a nightly basis and have let teams shoot 45.3% from the field (2nd in the league).

Who will win tonight's NBA game against the spread?

Tony Sink's Pick: Take Cleveland (+11)

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