{"id":13134,"date":"2011-02-05T18:17:33","date_gmt":"2011-02-05T23:17:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=13134"},"modified":"2011-02-05T18:31:06","modified_gmt":"2011-02-05T23:31:06","slug":"free-expect-nba-picks-portland-trailblazers-at-cleveland-cavaliers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/free-expect-nba-picks-portland-trailblazers-at-cleveland-cavaliers-13134\/","title":{"rendered":"Free Expert NBA Picks: Portland Trailblazers at Cleveland Cavaliers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Portland Trailblazers AT Cleveland Cavaliers
\nFeb 5, 2011 at 7:30 PM EST
\nOpening Line:\u00a0 Port -6.5
\nCurrent Line: Port -6.5
\nOpening Total: 194.5
\nCurrent Total: 195.5
\nOpening Moneyline:\u00a0 Por -250 \/ Cle +210
\nCurrent Moneyline:\u00a0 Por -280 \/ Cle +230<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
LaMarcus Aldridge is having an all star season, but he's not an all star<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There really isn’t a way to describe just how bad the Cavaliers have been.\u00a0 They are in fact on the verge of being record setting bad as they can set the record for most consecutive losses in a single season tonight at 24 straight.\u00a0 Just think, this time last year, they were thinking about playoff seedings and possible first round matchups.\u00a0 Now they won’t even sniff the playoffs.\u00a0 Forward J.J. Hickson is taking a diplomatic approach to the whole matter.\u00a0 \u201cThey say you can\u2019t win \u2018em all, but in the same light, you can\u2019t lose \u2018em all either,\u201d said Hickson\u00a0 “If we stay (focused), I think we can get a couple of wins before the season\u2019s over.\u201d<\/p>\n

“A couple of wins?”\u00a0 It may not be overwhelming optimism, but Hickson and the Cavs should be able to win a few more games than last year’s New Jersey Nets, though there is no guarantee.\u00a0 This is what happens when you remove a star player and leave the shell of role players behind to play by themselves.<\/p>\n

Some betting trends:<\/p>\n

Portland is 1-4 SU in their last 5 games and 6-16 SU in their last 22 road games.\u00a0 They are 4-9 ATS in their last 13 games against the Cavs adn the total hasg one OVER in 4 of their last 5 games against Cleveland.\u00a0 Portland is 0-5 SU in their last 5 games when playing Cleveland and 2-5 ATS in their last 7 road games against the Cavs.\u00a0 The total has gone OVER In 5 of Portland’s last 6 road games in Cleveland and they are 0-5 SU in their last 5 road games in Cleveland.<\/p>\n

Cleveland is 0-5 SU in its last 5 games and the total has gone OVER in 6 of the last 7 home games.\u00a0 Cleveland is 0-5 SU in their last 5 at home and 1-8 ATS in their last 9 at home.\u00a0 Cleveland is 5-0 SU in their last 5 against Portland and the total has gone OVER in 5 of the last 6 home games against the Blazers.\u00a0 Cleveland is 5-0 SU in their last 5 home games against Portland.<\/p>\n

Key Matchups:<\/strong><\/p>\n

LaMarcus Aldridge vs. Antawn Jamison<\/strong><\/p>\n

After a slow start to the year, Jamison has rounded into form and is playing good basketball despite getting little help from his teammates.\u00a0 Jamison has scored 20 or more in 12 of the last 17 Cavalier games and is averaging 17.2 points on the season.\u00a0 It’s still a far cry from his years in Washington, and Jamison has already hinted that this may be his last season.\u00a0 Aldridge is on the other end of the spectrum as an emerging young threat.\u00a0 He seemed to know before hand that he wasn’t going to make the All-Star team despite putting up “all star numbers.”\u00a0 Aldridge is averaging a career high 21.2 points per game and a career high 9.1 rebounds per game while also blocking a career high 1.3 shots a game.\u00a0 He’s single handedly keeping the\u00a0 Blazers relevant in the wake of injuries to Brandon Roy and Marcus Camby.\u00a0 While the Blazers may not be quite the emerging team that people thought they were, it’s not due to Aldridge’s play.<\/p>\n

Andre Miller vs. Ramon Sessions<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sessions has been a bit of a bright spot for the Cavs this year.\u00a0 In 24 minutes a game he is putting up 11.5 points per game and 4.9 assists per game and has filled in well in the absense of Mo Williams, who is nursing a hip injury.\u00a0 Sessions, like Miller, is a bigger guard capable of posting up smaller players.\u00a0 That advantage for each player will be nuetralized tonight and indeed this matchup may end up being a wash.\u00a0 It’s Cleveland’s bench that will blow the game.<\/p>\n

Truly, I don’t think this game will be as close as NBA oddsmakers have set the line.\u00a0 The Cavs are hapless and Portland – in particular LaMarcus Aldridge – is playing good basketball.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Portland Trailblazers AT Cleveland Cavaliers Feb 5, 2011 at 7:30 PM EST Opening Line:\u00a0 Port -6.5 Current Line: Port -6.5 Opening Total: 194.5 Current Total: 195.5 Opening Moneyline:\u00a0 Por -250 \/ Cle +210 Current Moneyline:\u00a0 Por -280 \/ Cle +230 There really isn’t a way to describe just how bad the Cavaliers have been.\u00a0 They […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40250,"featured_media":9358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,133],"tags":[1345,1516,3303,2800],"class_list":["post-13134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nba-handicapping","tag-antawn-jamison","tag-cleveland-cavs","tag-lamarcus-aldridge","tag-portland-trailblazers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13134"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13136,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13134\/revisions\/13136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}