NBA Basketball Picks: Los Angeles vs. Cleveland Betting Odds: January 30th 2009

Los Angeles Clippers vs. Cleveland Cavaliers - January 30th, 2009 7:30PM - Click Here for NBA Betting Odds
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Off last night’s loss, the Cavs are extremely heavy favorites here. After all, they’re undefeated at home and the Clippers practically never win on the road. However, the situation favors the visiting Clippers, who had last night off.

In addition to last night’s huge showdown at Orlandom the Cavs have another really big game vs. Detroit on deck. In other words, it should be easy for them to overlook the lowly Clippers. This is more than just a “typical back to back situation” for the Cavs too, as they’re also playing their third game in the past four nights.

Yes, the Clippers looked bad in their last game and have now lost three straight. They’re slowly starting to get healthier though, having gotten both Camby and Davis back last game. With another game under, those two “stars” should be stronger and the rest of the team will have had a chance to adjust to their return.

As for the Cavs, they’re still without West and Ilgauskus remains questionable. Ilgauskus certainly makes the Cavs a better team over the long run. However even if he did return tonight, that wouldn’t necessarily make them better for tonight’s game. Often, as the Clippers found out when Davis and Camby returned, teams don’t perform as well as expected, in the very first game when a star (or stars) returns to the lineup.

It’s true that the Clippers have just one win in the last seven games in this series. A closer look shows none of the six losses were by more than 17 points though and that five of them were by 14 points or less. Look for the Clippers to be the “fresher” team and for them to give their hosts a tougher game than most are expecting. Consider LA