Good evening CtB!
The Charlotte Hornets come to the shores of Lake Erie to take on the Cavs in another test against a playoff hopeful. The Cavs are slight underdogs according to Vegas (+2.5 points as of earlier today), and will be without their starting point guard Darius Garland. Ricky Rubio is set to fill in for the injured guard. It’s also reported that Dean Wade will be good to go, while Dylan Windler is still nursing a hip injury.
In spite of the many protests of fans online, Coach J.B. Bickerstaff will go with Lauri Markkanen at the starting small forward spot again, and the advanced metrics say he’s justified in doing so, at least from an offensive standpoint (Cavs turned in a 117.