The Big Dog made the conscious decision to stay away from Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals and that decision was validated, as the Thunder scored a major upset (even considering they were the home side) with a 133-105 victory. Stats from recent history had a slight leaning towards a Warriors/Unders result but the opposite held true, setting up what will be a cracking Game 4. Speaking of Game 4, the action shifts back to the Eastern Conference, where the Toronto Raptors will try to defend home court for a second consecutive game and square the series. Game 3 was a remarkable turnaround from the first pair. Will the Cavaliers respond and return to the dominance that saw them win their first ten games in these playoffs?
Cleveland Cavaliers @ Toronto Raptors
In short, The Big Dog says they will. Taking nothing away from what was a tremendous performance in Game 3 from a desperate and clearly more committed Toronto Raptors unit, there were an amazing number of things that fell into place for the home side. Firstly and most notably, the career night from centre Bismack Biyombo. After contributing just nine rebounds and two blocks after the first two games, the Raptors’ primary (and essentially only) rim-protector exploded for 26 boards and four blocks, in Game 3. As stellar as that performance was, it isn’t something that anyone should feel confident in seeing duplicated. In fact, the best news for the Canadian franchise is that Jonas Valanciunas has been upgraded to a game-time decision, as he continues to recover from an ankle sprain. Secondly, there’s the combined performance of Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving. LeBron James is going to be LeBron James every night but the Cavaliers need the rest of their “Big 3” pulling their weight. Love and Irving combined for 86 points on 32 of 55 shooting, during the first pair of Cleveland wins… but were ice-cold in Game 3, scoring just 16 points and hitting only 4 of their 28 shots. Despite relatively solid numbers from LeBron, the Cavaliers simply can’t win with him alone on the offensive end. The Big Dog thinks the chances of both primary supports for James having another game like that are slim to none and Cleveland will use the loss as the wake-up call it needed to be. Looking around at different bookmakers, there’s a large range of prices for an 11+ win to the Cavs, so it pays to shop around. Luxbet gets the nod for value at their “Pick Your Own Line” market, which is almost fifty cents better than some others. Load up with whomever you choose… but take Cleveland to win by plenty.
Selection
Cleveland Cavaliers -10.5 (Pick Your Own Line) @ $2.85 (Luxbet)
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