Los Angeles crushed the New York Knicks 109-87 on Sunday, and it appears this team is starting to find its form again. The same can not be said for the Cavaliers. Cleveland lost 108-100 at Phoenix on Sunday, and have now lost 20 of their last 21 games, including 10 straight and 16 in a row on the road.
Our NBA spreads have the Lakers favored by 15 points over the Cavaliers at home.
Rarely will you see a team favored by15 points, but with the way these two teams are playing, it shouldn't come as that much of s surprise, especially after the Lakers just beat the Knicks by 22 points at home.
The Cavaliers lost Anderson Varegjao for the season with a torn ankle tendon and are also without guard Daniel Gibson and forward Leon Powe.
Because the Cavs have been so bad this season, they have been able to give some of their younger players more minutes, and rookie Manny Harris is starting to show flashes of what he could bring to this team.
After scoring 16 points and 10 rebounds against the Warriors, Harris scored a career-high 27 points against the Suns.
Cleveland also got a big game out of J.J. Hickson, as he scored 23 points and grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds. With Varegjao done for the year, the Cavaliers are going to need Hickson to be a force on the boards.
The problem for Cleveland is even when they do have a good night offensively, they are so bad on the defensive side of the ball that it doesn't even matter. The Cavaliers are allowing just over 108 points over their last seven games, and it's hard to imagine they will slow down the Lakers in this one.
Making things even harder on the Cavaliers is the fact that the Lakers are playing extremely well on the defensive side of the ball right now.
Los Angeles is hol...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
