The Cavaliers Are Covering At A Ridiculous Rate

The Cleveland Cavaliers have been one of the more pleasant surprises this NBA season. They are 17-12 and rank third in the Central Division mostly due to their stellar defense. The Cavaliers are the No. 2 defense in the NBA based on opponent scoring and allow just 101.9 points per game. And while that is all well and good, the Cavaliers have another stat that really blew me away and needs to be known by my fellow sports bettors. 

The Cleveland Cavaliers are the best team against the spread (ATS) so far this season. To be fair, there isn’t even a close second place. After covering as 5.5-point favorites against the Heat on Monday night, the Cavaliers are now on an insane 12-game ATS win streak. On the season overall, the Cavs are covering 81.5 percent of all of their games. To put that into perspective, the Golden State Warriors have the second-best ATS record in the league at 17-9-1 or 65.4 percent. 

It really is incredible to realize that the Cavs have just five ATS losses in 29 games this year. I know that the betting market has a habit of adjusting its power rankings slowly at times but this is getting out of hand. While the market continues to ignore the Cavs ATS record, we can reap the benefits of this oversight. 

Looking over the Cavaliers advanced ATS trends and there are some other numbers that jump out to me. First off, the situations in which the Cavs have yet to lose against the spread. The Cavs have no ATS losses in any game this season as home favorites, away favorites, in division games, and with a rest advantage. They do “struggle” a bit as underdogs with a 76.2 percent win rate. But the struggle is relative considering that is still better than the Warriors' overall ATS record. 

As of Tuesday morning, the Cavaliers have closed just seven games as a betting favorite but it’s clear they deserve better. Until the betting market corrects itself I recommend continuing to bet on Cleveland while you still can. In terms of spread betting, they are one of the most underrated teams I have seen in quite some time and the value is still out there for the taking.