The Cleveland Cavaliers will be looking to tally consecutive victories for just the second time in 14 games when they return home to face the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday as 2.5-point favorites on the NBA odds at OddsShark.com.
Cleveland closed out a six-game road trip with Saturday’s 114-109 victory over the Chicago Bulls as a 7-point favorite, but owns a middling 6-7 straight-up record over its last 13 outings ahead of Monday night’s matchup at Quicken Loans Arena.
The Cavaliers’ recent bout of inconsistency also extends to the sportsbooks, covering on just four occasions during their shaky 13-game stretch, and they have been an unreliable wager on home hardwood, going 8-7 SU and just 5-10 against the spread since New Year’s Day.
The club’s recent slide has taken them out of contention in the race for top spot in the Eastern Conference. The Cavaliers enter the week in a three-way battle with the Washington Wizards and Indiana Pacers for third place in the East, and trail the first-place Toronto Raptors by 11.5 games with just 13 games remaining on their schedule.
While the Cavaliers have lost ground in the standings, they have maintained resilience on the 2018 NBA championship odds, trailing only the heavily favored Golden State Warriors and Western Conference-leading Houston Rockets as a +800 wager on those futures.
Cleveland has also enjoyed regular success when the Bucks come to visit, going 9-1 SU in the last 10 home matchups, according to the OddsShark NBA Database. However, the Cavaliers are just 4-5-1 ATS during that stretch, and 1-2-1 ATS in their past four overall meetings, including a 119-116 loss as 1.5-point favorites in their last visit to Bradley Center on December 19 which halted a 5-0 SU run against Milwaukee.
The Bucks arrive in town fresh off a 122-117 win over the visiting Atlanta Hawks as 10.5-point favorites on Saturday, and have now posted SU wins in three of four. Consistency has also eluded the seventh-place Bucks, who have gone 4-7 SU and 3-8 ATS in their past 11 overall.
However, Milwaukee owns a respectable 5-4 SU and ATS record over their past nine away contests, including outright victories in two of their last five as road underdogs.