Cleveland Cavaliers +4.0 (-110)
Sun Apr 27 ‘08 1:00p - Click Here for Odds

The Cleveland Cavaliers took their game off in Game 3 after dominating the Washington Wizards the first two games, but it should be back to business as usual today as the Cavaliers take control of this series.

In fact, that 108-72 loss in Game 3 was the worst loss in Cleveland playoff history, so the Cavs will no doubt be anxious to erase that effort (or lack of) from their memories as soon as possible. The Cavaliers were awful on the road the first half of this season, but improved greatly while going 11-11 straight up and a winning 12-10 against the spread in all their road games since January 15, so we see no reason they can’t go back to their “A” game here with the threat of letting the Wizards back in this series hanging over their heads.

LeBron James was held to “only” 22 points in Game 3 after taking over the first two games, mainly because the Wizards were able to double team him all game, as Cleveland simply could not hit an outside shot. The Cavs hit just two three-point shots on 16 attempts, and one has to believe that they will improve on that pathetic showing today. That would force the Washington defense to play more honest and come play the perimeter, which would open things up for James to drive to the basket as he did so effectively the first two contests.

Besides, allowing 72 points was certainly an aberration for a Wizards defense that is allowing 99.0 points per game this season while allowing opponents to convert on 46.1 percent of their shots. To put things in perspective, Washington had allowed 101.7 points per game in their previous seven contests, never allowing fewer than 93 points in any of those games.

We look for a return to normalcy here, which should result in a commanding 3-1 series lead for Cleveland when all is said and done.

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