Brooklyn Nets at Cleveland Cavaliers 1/20/21 - NBA Picks & Predictions

The Brooklyn Nets travel on the road to Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse to take on the Cleveland Cavaliers. Brooklyn has won four in a row with their dominant new-look roster and the addition of all-star shooting guard James Harden. The Nets most recent win came over Milwaukee on a buzzer-beating three to improve to 9-6 on the year. Cleveland has lost three of their last four but is coming off a win over the Knicks which improved the Cavaliers to 6-7 on the year. 

The Nets have arguably the best Big Three in the NBA this season when they’re all out there and come in as the 3rd ranked scoring offense in the NBA this season, averaging 119.3 points per game. With not one, but two of the best scorers in the NBA with the two-headed attack of James Harden and Kevin Durant. Durant is coming off a season-long injury last season but appears to have recovered averaging 30.6 points on 54% shooting. 

James Harden has only got two games under his belt in a Nets uniform but is nearly averaging a triple-double wearing a Nets uniform averaging 33 points, 13 assists, and 9 rebounds in those two games. That doesn’t even mention Nets point guard Kyrie Irving, he’s missed games due to breaking COVID protocols but is averaging 27.1 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 5.7 assists in 7 games this season. 

The Cavaliers come in last in the league in scoring offense averaging 99.5 points per game and have been unable to get anything going offensively in this young season. It won’t help in this game to be missing three key players in the backcourt including Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, and Mattew Dellavedova. 

Sexton has led the team in scoring with 25.1 and Garland is dishing out a team-high 6.3 assists per game with both of them out. It's going to be a struggle to keep pace with the lethal Nets offense without two key starters. Center Andre Drummond will need to have a career game, he’s averaging 19.3 points and a league-high 15.8 rebounds per game. Rookie and lottery draft pick Isaac Okoro has started 8 games and is averaging 8.6 points per game.

Cleveland has been one of the best defenses in the country allowing 103.9 points per game ranking 2nd in the NBA in scoring defense. Opponents have shot 45.7% from the field and have killed the Cavaliers from three with 39.5% of their threes falling, the 28th ranked three-point shooting defense. The Nets come in 23rd in the NBA in scoring defense allowing 113.7 points per game with opposing teams shooting 44.7% from the field.