Suns open NBA season against Seattle Supersonics

Nov 7, 2007 By Rob Gerein

The defending Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers visit the Utah Jazz tonight and will be looking to buck a trend that has seen them lose 14 of their past 17 games at EnergySolutions Arena.

Bet the Cavaliers-Jazz game at Sportbet, which has the Jazz as 9-point favorites and the over/under at 180½.

Head-to-head, Cleveland has the upper hand on Utah, going 7-3 SU and 8-2 ATS in their past 10 meetings. Last season, the teams split a pair of games, with Cleveland winning 82-73 at home on March 17, and Utah winning a tight one, 99-98, at home on Feb. 14.

Cleveland is 2-2 SU and 1-3 ATS, while Utah is 2-2 SU and 2-2 ATS.

The Cavaliers are in the early stages of a season-high six-game road trip. In their first game of the trip on Tuesday, Daniel Gibson drained five three-pointers as Cleveland knocked off the winless Golden State Warriors, 108-104. Gibson finished with 22 points and LeBron James scored a team-best 24 points, grabbed 14 rebounds and dished out nine assists.

Utah returns home after a loss on the road. Superstar Kobe Bryant scored 33 points to lead the Los Angeles Lakers over the Jazz, 119-109, on Sunday at the Staples Center. Deron Williams scored 26 points in the loss for Utah, which has alternated wins and losses over its first four games this season. Carlos Boozer finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds for the Jazz, whose bench was outscored 41-18 in defeat.

On the injury front, Cavaliers’ guard Larry Hughes (bruised left knee) is expected to miss tonight's game. Hughes, who is averaging 7.3 points and 3.7 assists per game this season, did not play against Golden State.

Cleveland is 5-0 ATS in its past five games against Utah, 5-1 SU in its past six games against Utah, and 4-1 ATS in its past five games on the road against Utah. Utah is 10-2 SU in its past 12 games at home, and is 11-3 SU in its past 14 games when playing at home against Cleveland.

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