Cleveland head to Milwaukee looking to complete a cleansweep of the Eastern Conference rivals’ season series.
Cleveland have won seven of their last nine against Milwaukee – including all three clashes so far this season: 114-113 at Fiserv Forum, and 116-114 and 124-101 at home. All three encounters were prior to Christmas.
But Cleveland have only gone from strength to strength since, coasting towards the top seed with a 53-10 record and riding a 13-game winning streak.
They made hard work of a 118-117 win in Charlotte on Saturday (AEDT), however, blowing an 11-point halftime lead before fight back from nine points down with less than six minutes to play. Donovan Mitchell top-scored (24 pts) but went 0-for-6 from three-point range.
Fourth in the East, Milwaukee (36-26) have won nine of their last 11. Damian Lillard went off for 34 points in a 137-107 home win over Dallas, their fifth in a row, but yesterday they were upset 111-109 at Fiserv Forum by Orlando despite 37 points and 11 rebounds from Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Milwaukee are 6-6 on no rest (3-8-1 ATS), while Cleveland are a league-leading 12-2 with a rest advantage (11-3 ATS). This is only this sixth time this season Milwaukee have gone in as a home underdog (they are 3-2 against the line to date), but Cleveland are the pick here.
Minnesota are searching for five straight wins when they host a San Antonio side treading water.
Picking up wins in Phoenix, Charlotte and Miami, as well as at home to Philadelphia, in the past week, Minnesota have improved to 36-29 and seventh in the West. They shared the scoring around in the 106-104 win in Miami, with six players notching 13-plus points.
Anthony Edwards racked up 13 points, 13 rebounds and 6 steals.
Reeling from the season-ending injury to Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio have lost six of their last eight to slump to 26-35 and 13th in the West.
Devin Vassell went off for 37 points in last week’s home win over Brooklyn (127-113), while Stephon Castle had 25 points in loss to Sacramento (127-109) in their only outing since.
Minnesota have won six of their last eight against San Antonio, including two of three this season. San Antonio won 113-103 at home in November, before Minnesota claimed wins on the road (106-92) and at home (112-110) in December.
San Antonio have won only two of their last nine on the road. Minnesota have played at home just three times in the past month – notching wins over Oklahoma City and Philadelphia, and a narrow defeat to Milwaukee. They should relish getting back to Target Center against a struggling opponent.
Detroit head to Portland with an eye on pushing into the Eastern Conference’s top four. The home side has had a rough start to March as they strive to stay in the play-in picture.
After going on a 10-1 run culminating in blowout wins over Brooklyn at home and Utah away, Detroit (35-29) went down 123-115 on the road to LA Clippers – despite 37 points from Cade Cunningham – before losing at Golden State yesterday 115-110.
Portland had two four-game tears in an 8-4 February, but they have gone down away to heavyweight trio Cleveland (OT), Boston and Oklahoma City, with only a win in Philadelphia to show for their last four outings.
Oklahoma City held them to a season-low 89 points, with spearhead Anfernee Simons scoring only 14 on 5-for-16 shooting.
After losing eight straight to Portland, Detroit have won the last two between the teams – including a 118-115 eclipse at home in January. Detroit’s Cade Cunningham (32 pts, 9 ast) and Portland’s Anfernee Simons (36 pts, 9 ast) were the standout performers.
Portland will enjoy getting back to Moda Center (where they are 16-14 this week) after almost two weeks on the road and confronting something of a murderers’ row in the past week.
Detroit have the league’s second-best away record against the line (20/21-11/12-1), however, and are an impressive 8-3 ATS as an away favourite.
A crucial all-California Western Conference showdown awaits as eight-placed Los Angeles Clippers (34—29) host ninth-placed Sacramento Kings (33-29). Rising above the play-in spots remains very much within reach for both teams.
LA Clippers have emerged from a tough 1-6 roadstand with consecutive home wins in recent days over top-six East teams Detroit (123-115) – with James Harden scoring 50 points – and New York (105-95), driven by Harden (27 pts, 7 ast), Kawhi Leonard (20 pts, 7 reb, 6 ast) and Ivica Zubac (16 pts, 14 reb).
Sacramento have won eight of their last 11, bouncing back from a 116-110 loss at Denver (their only defeat in their last six games) to beat San Antonio 127-109 at home on the back of 36 points from Zach LaVine.
The teams’ two clashes so far this season were both in November, LA Clippers winning 107-98 away and 104-88 at home. De’Aaron Fox managed 60 points across the two games in a beaten Sacramento team, while Norman Powell had 31 points in the first encounter for LAC.
Sacramento have forged on seamlessly without the injured Domantas Sabonis, but LA Clippers have won their last four at Intuit Dome by double digits and Harden’s form spike is hard to resist.