The Cleveland Cavaliers host the Washington Wizards tonight, one night removed from beating Washington 140-101 Wednesday night at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. The Cavaliers are -10.5 favorites, and the NBA oddsmakers expect another high-scoring affair with their 240.5-point total.
Join me as I share my best NBA prop bets and predictions for Wizards vs. Cavaliers for Friday, January 5.
Best Bets for Friday, January 5
Kyle Kuzma prop: Under 2.5 made three-pointers (+110) at FanDuel
The Washington Wizards and Cleveland Cavaliers face each other again, one night removed from combining to score 241 points. The oddsmakers have set the total at 240.5. I don’t see them scoring anywhere near the total tonight, and I also expect the Wizards to focus more on the defensive end of the floor after getting blown out by 40.
That being said, the Over 2.5 three-pointers for Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma are too high for a couple of reasons: one, he hasn’t cleared that number in four of his last six matchups, and two, the Cavaliers are one of the best in the league at defending the three-point arc. Kuzma will light up weaker perimeter defenses, such as Atlanta and Brooklyn, but he won’t get the open looks tonight and fail to clear the number that FanDuel Ohio has chosen.
Under 240.5 (-115) at ESPN BET
Under bettors got hosed Wednesday night when Wizards guard Jarod Butler sunk a shot with under 10 seconds in the clock in a blowout game to kill the Under 240.5 at ESPN BET Ohio.
We’ll see plenty of points tonight, but not 240.5. Washington is a terrible defensive side, but they aren’t going to allow Cleveland to embarrass them on consecutive nights. Cleveland made 20 triples on 47% shooting from downtown in their Wednesday night encounter, and we shouldn’t expect either to happen.
We should expect to see the usual strong Cleveland defensive effort and for them to slow down the pace and beat up the Wizards in their half-court offensive sets. Washington will be focusing on the defense, and this game ends in the 230’s.
Jarrett Allen prop: Under 13.5 rebounds (-115) at PointsBet
Cavs center Jarrett Allen snagged 19 rebounds Wednesday night against the Wizards, but that number is too many for tonight.
Allen is one of the best rebounders in the game, averaging a 17th-best 9.7 caroms per contest. Still, he benefited greatly Wednesday night from Washington, shooting just 41% from the field, and I don’t expect him to have the same number of opportunities tonight as he did in the last meeting earlier this week.
The Cavs center has cleared this number in three of his last five, but Cleveland opponents average 13.2 offensive rebounds per game. I expect Washington to be more aggressive after recording just a dozen offensive caroms in their 39-point loss to the Cavs.
