Cleveland ready to reward fans by racking up points

Eastern Conference finals
BT Sport 1, 1.35am Wednesday

Be honest, who saw that coming?

Cleveland, after ten straight playoff wins and a record-breaking romp in The Garden on Friday, were almost being given Game Three of the Eastern Conference finals at the Quicken Loans Arena on Sunday night, with Cavs’ clean-sweep backers figuring they didn’t have a care in the world.

But isn’t that the beauty of sport? Just when you least expected it, the Cavs went and produced a hideous no-show, LeBron James in particular, and a buzzer-beating three-pointer from Avery Bradley means it’s 2-1 with the teams heading back to Boston on Thursday.

First though, there’s Game Four to be played out and a chance for Cleveland to put Sunday down as a complete one-off and apologise to their fans by winning big.

Certainly nobody is expecting James to repeat his pitiful 11-point haul.

The layers don’t, having set the spread at 14.5 and we know, after witnessing Cleveland win by 46 in Game Two, that the reigning NBA champs can make a nonsense of those numbers if they’re on their game.

The Celtics, still without Isaiah Thomas, at least believe and have avoided humiliation though the handicap looks about right.

It might be worth a little bet on total points which have been set at 216.5. So far the series has produced 221, 216 and 219 points but with James needing to produce, take Cleveland to show no mercy.

Be a touch braver and go over 217.5 at 21-20 with Betway.

Recommendation
Over 217.5 points
1pt 21-20 Betway