Rockets vs. Cavaliers prediction: Back Houston to win the Summer League championship game

The NBA Summer League tournament is coming to a close, and tonight’s championship game between the Houston Rockets and Cleveland Cavaliers will be our last taste of basketball until Opening Night.

So, we have to bet on it.

Both teams enter tonight’s Summer League championship with 5-0 Summer League records (obviously). Both teams won their semifinal games to reach the championship game (obviously).

The way each team got here is different.

The Rockets played better competition than the Cavaliers played. The Rockets had the highest-scoring offense of any Summer League team (110 PPG). They rested their best players but only found more firepower – for example, sitting Jabari Smith Jr. and Tari Eason allowed Cam Whitmore and Nate Hinton to erupt offensively.

The Cavaliers played worse competition than the Rockets played. They’ve ridden Isaiah Mobley and Emoni Bates to the championship game. And most importantly, the Cavaliers needed overtime to grind out a three-point semi-final victory over the Nets.

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The Cavaliers have allowed only 85 PPG during these Summer League games, but they will be tired after Sunday’s overtime contest and will be facing their toughest challenge yet. This is a letdown spot for the Cavs, and I’m looking to fade them.

These games are high variance, so I wouldn’t recommend placing a large wager on this. But we want to gamble on the NBA one last time before the dog days of Summer, and I feel relatively good about this angle.

I’ll take the Rockets and the points. I expect them to win this game, so I’d play it down to a pick.

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The Inquirer is not an online gambling operator, or a gambling site. We provide this information about sports betting for entertainment purposes only.