The NBA Eastern Conference Finals (Game-One) begin today for the Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons at the Palace in Auburn Hills. It is essential that the top-seed Pistons establish superiority early in this series. They are fully aware of what Cleveland cost them a year ago by extending them to seven games and gassing them for their series with Miami. They not only need to beat the Cavaliers, they need to beat them expediently if – as seems possible, and perhaps likely – San Antonio disposes of Utah quickly in the West.
Cleveland’s strengths are rebounding , defense and LeBron James. Cleveland’s overwhelming weakness is putting the ball in the basket. James is pretty much it for the Cavs on that end of the court. Zydrunas Ilgauskas can hurt the Pistons for as long as he can stay on the court with his mid-range jump shots and tip-ins, but the Cavs really have no one else they can depend on to give them 15 points a night. That puts enormous pressure on James to be efficient in his ratio of shots to makes and assists to turnovers. It’s enough to beat most teams, but the Pistons have Tayshaun Prince to throw at him and solid team defense behind him.
Oddsmakers at online sportsbook BetUS.com expect the Pistons to get past the Cavaliers in game-one tonight and have installed them a -7.0 favorite with a money line price of -280 . The total for game-one is holding at 177. The Pistons are also expected win the series and move on to the NBA Finals. The money line price on the Pistons winning the series is -350. Cleveland is getting +240 money line juice to win tonight’s game and +250 to win the series.
Detroit is 10-2 SU in its last 12 games and is 4-2 ATS in its last six games. The total has gone OVER in four of Detroit’s last five games at home. Detroit is also 5-1 SU in its last six games at home.
Cleveland is 12-2 SU in its last 14 games and 5-1 SU in its last six games on the road. The total has gone UNDER in six of Cleveland’s last seven games and in four of its last five games on the road.
