Who’s playing
Cleveland Cavaliers @ Houston Rockets
Current records: Cleveland 42-24, Houston 31-35
How to watch
- When: Saturday March 16, 2024 at 5 p.m. ET
- Or: Toyota Center – Houston, TX
- TV: Bally Sports – Ohio
- Follow: CBS Sports app
- Online broadcast: fuboTV (Try for free. Regional restrictions may apply.)
- Ticket cost: $24.00
What there is to know
The Cleveland Cavaliers will hit the road to face the Houston Rockets on Saturday at 5 p.m. ET at the Toyota Center. After coming off a win as an underdog, the Cavaliers will enter this one as favorites.
Winning is a little easier when you work as a team to rack up 16 more assists than your opponent, a fact the Cavaliers proved on Wednesday. Everything went well against New Orleans as Cleveland came out on top with a 116-95 victory. The Cavaliers pushed the score to 87-68 late in the third, a deficit the Pelicans had little chance of recovering from.
Darius Garland was a one-man wrecking crew for the Cavaliers as he shot 6 of 10 from deep and dropped a double-double with 27 points and 11 assists.
Meanwhile, the Rockets had already won three straight (a stretch in which they outscored their opponents by an average of 8.7 points), and they went ahead and made it four on Thursday. They cruised past Washington with points to spare, winning the game 135-119.
The Rockets’ victory was a true team effort, with many players putting in strong performances. Perhaps the best of them was Jalen Green, who scored 37 points and eight rebounds. In fact, this is the most points Green has scored all season. Another player who made the difference was Fred VanVleet, who nearly had a double-double with 27 points and nine assists.
Cleveland’s victory improved its record to 42-24. As for Houston, they have performed incredibly well recently as they have won six of their last seven matchups, which has resulted in a nice improvement to their 31-35 record this season.
In this competition, the number of possessions will likely be a big factor: the Cavaliers haven’t given up the ball easily this season, averaging just 12.6 turnovers per game. However, it’s not like the Rockets struggled in that department as they averaged just 12.5 turnovers per game. Given these competing forces, it will be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
The Cavaliers didn’t have too much breathing room in their matchup against the Rockets in their previous matchup in December 2023, but they still came away with a 135-130 victory. One of the biggest obstacles the team faced in this game was VanVleet, who had a double-double with 27 points and 17 assists. Now that he has a second chance to win this game, will the Cavaliers still be able to contain VanVleet? There’s only one way to find out.
Odds
Cleveland is a 4.5-point favorite against Houston, according to the latest NBA Odds.
Oddsmakers had a good idea of the line for this one, as the game opened with the Cavaliers as 5.5-point favorites.
The over/under is 214.5 points.
See NBA Pick for every game, including this one, from SportsLine’s advanced computer model. Get Picks Now.
History of the series
Cleveland has won 7 of its last 10 games against Houston.
- December 18, 2023 – Cleveland 135 vs. Houston 130
- March 26, 2023 – Cleveland 108 vs. Houston 91
- January 26, 2023 – Cleveland 113 vs. Houston 95
- February 2, 2022 – Houston 115 vs. Cleveland 104
- December 15, 2021 – Cleveland 124 vs. Houston 89
- March 1, 2021 – Cleveland 101 vs. Houston 90
- February 24, 2021 – Cleveland 112 vs. Houston 96
- December 11, 2019 – Houston 116 vs. Cleveland 110
- January 11, 2019 – Houston 141 vs. Cleveland 113
- November 24, 2018 – Cleveland 117 vs. Houston 108
