{"id":525778,"date":"2026-01-08T21:37:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T21:37:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/525778\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T21:37:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T21:37:12","slug":"cavaliers-vs-timberwolves-prediction-nba-odds-picks-best-bet-for-thursday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/525778\/","title":{"rendered":"Cavaliers vs. Timberwolves prediction: NBA odds, picks, best bet for Thursday"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\tGambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our links. Read our\u00a0editorial standards<\/a>\u00a0for more information.<\/p>\n

Most of the sports world will be focused on the College Football Playoff Fiesta Bowl Thursday night, but a there\u2019s a drawing NBA<\/a> matchup in store: The Minnesota Timberwolves host the Cleveland Cavaliers Thursday in the first game of a home-and-home set.<\/p>\n

Vibes can shift pretty quickly in the association, but right now, both the Cavaliers and Timberwolves look to be on the upswing.<\/p>\n

The Cavs have won four of five games, including consecutive wins against the Spurs, Suns and Nuggets. The Wolves also won four of five with a plus-15 point differential in those games.<\/p>\n

Cavaliers vs. Timberwolves odds, prediction<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers are nearly at full strength, but still await the debut of Max Strus who has been out since the summer with a foot injury. <\/p>\n

Darius Garland, who has fought through a toe injury all season, is showing progress over the past 10 games averaging 20 points on 50\/40\/90 splits over that stretch. Donovan Mitchell is day-to-day after resting in the Cavs\u2019 last game \u2014 a big reason why the line isn\u2019t out yet \u2014 but the team is rounding into form after a slow start.<\/p>\n

On Minnesota\u2019s side, it has been all about Anthony Edwards, who has taken another leap this season. Edwards is posting career-highs in scoring (29 points per game) and shooting (50 percent from the field, 40 percent from beyond the arc) while making it look effortless on a nightly basis.<\/p>\n

\"AnTimberwolves guard Anthony Edwards has leveled up on the court this season. Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers have been stellar defensively during this stretch, but will have a hard time containing Edwards with the way he\u2019s been playing. Conversely, the Wolves are good at taking away the 3-point line and 3-point shots make up about 42 percent of the Cavs\u2019 attempts, fourth-highest mark in the league.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If the Cavs try to get the ball inside, they\u2019ll go up against Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle and Naz Reid who anchor a defense allowing the fourth-lowest percentage at the rim in the NBA and the sixth-most.<\/p>\n

The Cavaliers have played some tough teams in this recent stretch, but I like the Wolves here to cover the spread. I expect this line to come in somewhere between 4-5.5 points with the Wolves as home favorites and would take the Wolves to cover up to -6.<\/p>\n

The Play: Timberwolves -3 (-110, FanDuel<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Why Trust New York Post Betting<\/p>\n

Malik Smith has been immersed in the sports betting industry since 2017. He\u2019s a data nerd with a particular focus on the NBA and combat sports. He spends his weeknights in the winter looking for edges on plus-money NBA player props.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3772],"tags":[7,212,306,305,193,3846,152,6,214,66,215,216],"class_list":{"0":"post-525778","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-cavaliers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-betting","10":"tag-cavaliers","11":"tag-cleveland","12":"tag-cleveland-cavaliers","13":"tag-clevelandcavaliers","14":"tag-minnesota-timberwolves","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-nba-betting","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-sports-betting","19":"tag-sports-picks"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115861641823246034","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}