Cleveland Cavaliers Expected To Keep Streak Against Booker-Less Phoenix Suns

Donovan Mitchell, NBA, Cleveland Cavaliers — All eyes will be on Donovan Mitchell after his 71-point outburst against the Chicago Bulls. House of Highlights/YouTube screenshot

KEY POINTS

The Cleveland Cavaliers are favored to book their third straight win against the Phoenix Suns
The Suns need to push active players to fill the void left by Devin Booker
Donovan Mitchell is expected to come up with another big scoring game

The Cleveland Cavaliers are coming off a big win over the Chicago Bulls, and another victory looms over the horizon when they face the undermanned Phoenix Suns on Wednesday, January 4.

The Cavs host the Suns at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland with the tip-off set at 7:00 PM ET.

All eyes will be on Donovan Mitchell who erupted for 71 points to go with 11 assists in that OT win over the Bulls.

Cleveland is on a two-game winning streak, and the chances of them getting a third one is looming large.

The Cavs are -5 spread favorites to prevail over the Suns who will continue to be without resident star Devin Booker.

Cleveland also holds a Moneyline of -214 against the Suns' +175.

Another thing going against the Suns is that the Cavs have been hot at home.

They are scoring 112.1 points per game and shooting 48.2% from the field.

In addition, Phoenix holds an offensive rating of 114.5, the 10th highest in the league right now.

Defensively, Cleveland has been getting it done as well. They are allowing only 106.9 points per game and limiting their opponents to 46.3% shooting from the floor.

The Cavs are doing this despite the absence of players such as Darius Garland (thumb), Evan Mobley (ankle), Ricky Rubio (knee) and Dean Wade (shoulder).

For the Suns, head coach Monty Williams needs to find a way to push players like DeAndre Ayton, Chris Paul and Landry Shamet to fill the void left by Booker.

They are scoring 114.2 points per game and shooting 46.8% from the floor.

Defensively, the Suns are allowing opposing teams to score 111.7 points per game and shooting 47.1% from the floor.

Aside from Booker, also out for the Suns are Cam Johnson (knee).

Jae Crowder continues to be a no-show due to personal reasons but the buzz going around is that he is likely to move to another team soon.

He has not played a single game this 2022-23 NBA season.

The game can be watched on NBA League Pass. Alternatively, the Cavs-Suns clash will be live-streamed via fuboTV.