In today’s SportSense Entertainment Newsletter…

Additional Model Predictions ⬇️

NHL Model Predictions- Click Here

There were no model predictions yesterday, February 23, 2024.

Ten NBA games are scheduled to take place today. Our model’s predictions for all ten matchups can be found below.

Cleveland Cavaliers @ Philadelphia 76ers

Model Predicts- Cavaliers ML, OVER 228, Cavaliers -3.5

The Cleveland Cavaliers will begin a short two-game road trip on Friday, with the first stop coming in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to take on the 76ers.

Cleveland enters tonight’s matchup with a stellar 36-18 record, but most recently suffered a loss to the Orlando Magic on Thursday. Meanwhile, Philadelphia is several games behind Cleveland in the standings as it sits in fifth place in the Eastern Conference.

This is the back end of a back-to-back for both squads, but our model believes the Cavaliers will emerge victorious tonight. Let’s take a look at why that is.

Cleveland Cavaliers

• Lost to Magic on Thursday night

  • Lost 116-109. Donovan Mitchell did not play

  • Still shot the ball well- 56% from the floor overall and 46% from three

• Have been bet team in NBA since January 1st

  • 18-4 record across 22 games

  • Own +13.5 Net Rating- 3.1 points higher than any other team

• Injuries- Donovan Mitchell is questionable, Ty Jerome and Tristan Thompson both OUT

Philadelphia 76ers

• Lost to Knicks on Thursday

  • Lost 110-96

  • Poor defense all around- allowed Knicks to shoot 48% overall and 44% from three

• Struggling to win games without Joel Embiid

  • 6-15 record without Embiid this season

  • Have been held to 105 points or less in eight of those games

• Injuries- Joel Embiid and Robert Covington are OUT

What’s the Play?

Both Cleveland and Philadelphia have key players on the injury report, but we agree with our model that the Cavaliers can win and cover the spread here.

Philadelphia is one of the worst teams in the NBA with Embiid off the floor. Per StatMuse, the 76ers own a -6.0 Net Rating when Embiid misses a game, a result of a Defensive Rating that balloons to 120.6. Meanwhile, when Embiid does play the 76ers own a +10.4 Net Rating, showing just how much he means to this team’s success.

Cleveland has been arguably the best team in the NBA over the last two months, and we shouldn’t let one loss to. a solid Magic team change our opinion. Back the Cavaliers here.

The Play: Cavaliers -3.5 (-115)

Money Line Trends 💰

• Cleveland Cavaliers- 36-18 overall this season, 18-4 since January 1st

• Minnesota Timberwolves- 39-16 overall this season, 19-5 as the home team

Over/Under Trends ⬆️⬇️

• Philadelphia 76ers- Over is 32-23 this season, 16-13 as the home team

• Houston Rockets- Under is 28-26-1 this season, 15-12-1 as the home team

Spread Trends ➕➖

• Cleveland Cavaliers- 28-24-2 against the spread (ATS) this season, 14-10-1 ATS as the away team

💪 Doncic leads Mavericks to seventh straight win. MVP candidate Luka Doncic showed out on Thursday night, knocking off the All-Star break rust in incredible fashion. Doncic scored 41 points and Kyrie Irving added 29 as the Mavericks defeated the Phoenix Suns 123-113, tying them in the standings at 33-23 and winning the head-to-head tiebreaker with a 2-1 record. The Mavericks' surge, fueled by Irving's return from a sprained thumb, demonstrates that the star pairing of Doncic and Irving can coexist effectively, with coach Jason Kidd noting the positive energy and health of the team.

🥊 Stewart suspended three games for punching Eubanks. The NBA suspended Detroit Pistons player Isaiah Stewart for three games without pay for instigating a physical altercation with Phoenix Suns center Drew Eubanks. Stewart punched and pushed Eubanks before a game on February 14, leading to his suspension starting with the game against the Indiana Pacers. Despite being arrested for assault, the misdemeanor charge against Stewart has been dismissed, and the cause of the altercation remains unknown.

Today’s trivia requires you to dig into multiple pockets of your brain, testing your knowledge of recent events as well as those that happened decades ago.

See how many of the below questions you can get correct. Answers are provided at the end of the newsletter.

Question #1- Who did the Orlando Magic select with the No.1 overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft?

Question #2- Who ranks second on the NHL’s all-time points list behind Wayne Gretzky?

Question #3- What MLB team won the NL Central division in 2010?

Anyone know what has happened on February 23rd throughout history? We didn’t have a clue either, but it appears that it has been a busy day.

On February 23rd…

1968- Wilt Chamberlain becomes the first NBA player to score 25,000 points in a career. Chamberlain reached the milestone with a free throw against the Detroit Pistons, which came with 1:51 remaining in the second quarter. He would finish his career with 31,419 points, the seventh most in NBA history.

1995- Current NBA player Andrew Wiggins is born in Toronto, Ontario. Wiggins emerged onto the basketball scene in his high school days, leading to being ranked the No.1 recruit in his class before attending the University of Kansas. Wiggins would go on to be selected with the No.1 overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers, and was immediately traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

2019- Argentine soccer star Lionel Messi scores the 50th hat trick of his career. The performance came against Sevilla in the Spanish La Liga, a game that Messi and Barcelona would win 4-2. Messi has now recorded 57 hat tricks in his legendary career.

1. Dwight Howard

2. Jaromir Jagr

3. Cincinnati Reds