Milwaukee Bucks vs Cleveland Cavaliers Prediction, 12/20/2024 Preview and Pick

Game: Milwaukee Bucks vs Cleveland Cavaliers

Date: Friday, December 20, 2024

Location: Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, OH

TV: FanDuel Sports Network

The Milwaukee Bucks (14-11) are traveling to Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse on Friday where they will try to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers (23-4).

The Bucks took the court against the Hawks and earned the victory with a final of 110-102 in their last game. When talking about personal fouls, the Bucks walked away with 27 and the Hawks finished the game with 20 personal fouls. They converted 10 out of their 24 tries from beyond the arc. Atlanta finished the game at 64.7% from the free throw line by burying 22 of 34 tries. Furthermore, Atlanta grabbed 44 rebounds (7 offensive, 37 defensive) and earned 8 blocked shots. Atlanta earned 23 dimes and had 3 steals in the game. Concerning defending, Milwaukee allowed the other team to shoot 42.7% from the field on 35 out of 82 shooting. They also distributed 28 assists in the matchup while forcing 13 turnovers and earning 8 steals. With respect to hauling in rebounds, they collected 47 with 6 of them being of the offensive sort. At the free throw line, the Bucks buried 18 of their 27 attempts for a rate of 66.7%. Milwaukee ended the contest having earned a 45.3% field goal percentage (39 of 86) and knocked down 14 out of their 45 three-point shots.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is one guy who played a role for this game. Antetokounmpo ended up going 66.7% from the floor and earned 9 dimes. He played for 38 minutes played and also snagged 14 rebounds. He was able to score 32 points on 10 of 15 shooting.

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Milwaukee will play this game with a mark of 14-11 for the year. They cough up possession 14.0 times per game and as a unit are committing 18.9 personal fouls every game. As a team, Milwaukee is grabbing 42.9 boards per game and has 601 dimes for the year, which ranks 26th in basketball in terms of passing. The Bucks are connecting on 38.9% on three-point shots (358 of 921) and 72.9% from the charity stripe. They average 113.3 pts per game (14th in basketball) while connecting on 48.4% from the field.

On the defensive end, the Bucks are able to force 12.9 turnovers every game and they draw 19.8 personal fouls. They currently rank 5th in the league in giving up assists to the opposition with 630 surrendered this year. The Bucks defensively are giving up an opponent shooting percentage of 45.1% (1,013 of 2,244) and they surrender 44.6 rebounds per game as a squad. They are giving up 36.1% on shots from downtown and they are 12th in the league in PPG allowed (111.9).

The last time they took the hardwood, the Cavaliers walked away with a victory by a final of 130-101 against the Nets. The Cavaliers pulled down 30 defensive rebounds and 12 offensive rebounds for a total of 42 for the matchup. They also coughed up the ball 17 times, while earning 14 steals for the game. The Nets had 28 fouls in this matchup which got the Cavaliers to the charity stripe for a total of 29 shots. They were able to make 25 of those for a percentage of 86.2%. Pertaining to three-point attempts, Cleveland knocked down 19 of 47 attempts (40.4%). When the final whistle was blown, the Cavaliers shot 43 for 81 from the field which gave them a rate of 53.1%. The Cavaliers allowed the Nets to knock down 34 of 81 tries from the floor which gave them a percentage of 42.0% in this matchup. They went 41.2% from downtown by connecting on 14 out of 34 and ended up going 19 out of 24 at the free throw line (79.2%). When talking about cleaning up the glass, Cleveland allowed Brooklyn to pull down 35 overall (9 offensive).

Evan Mobley pitched in for the Cavaliers in this game. Mobley had 21 points in his 23 minutes of playing time and tallied 2 dimes for this contest. He converted 7 out of 9 for this contest giving him a rate of 77.8%, and added 5 rebounds.

Cleveland has a win-loss mark of 23-4 so far this season. As an offense, the Cavaliers are connecting on 50.4% from the floor, which is 1st in the NBA. Cleveland has scored 3,280 points on the year (121.5 per contest) and they grab 43.3 rebounds per game. They are dishing out assists 28.2 times per game (8th in basketball) and they are losing possession via turnover 13.2 times per game. The Cavaliers are responsible for committing 18.4 personal fouls per game while shooting 77.9% from the charity stripe.

The Cavaliers on the defensive side of the court are 11th in the NBA in points given up per game with 110.9. They are forcing 15.9 TO's per game and allow teams to shoot 45.5% from the floor (8th in the league). The Cleveland defense allows 37.1% on three-point shots (368 of 992) and their opposition makes 80.0% of their free throw attempts. They give up 25.4 dimes and 43.4 boards per game, which ranks them 9th and 11th in the NBA.

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

Guy Bruhn's Pick: Take Cleveland

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