Cavaliers vs. Bucks NBA expert prediction and odds for Friday, Jan. 26

The Cavaliers had an eight-game winnings streak snapped at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday, but get another crack at the top team in the Central Division on Friday night.

The Cavs have separated amongst Play-In contenders and are jockeying to get home-court advantage in the first round of the postseason, can the team pick up a marquee win on the road despite still battling a handful of injuries to key cogs like Darius Garland and Evan Mobley?

Here's how we're betting Bucks vs. Cavs on Friday night:

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Cavaliers Injury Report

Bucks Injury Report

Cavaliers

Donovan Mitchell: Mitchell has taken on an even bigger role with Garland out for an extended period, but has not missed a beat. He is averaging 27 points with five rebounds and seven assists in 10 January games, lifting the Cavs to what was an eight-game winning streak. Can he get Cleveland back on track against the Bucks?

Bucks

Damian Lillard: Named to be a starter in his first All-Star Game, Lillard will look to outduel Mitchell in this one. The former Blazers guard had 28 points but struggled shooting from the field, converting only eight of his 21 field goal attempts, but getting to the line 11 times.

The Bucks scored a double-digit win on Wednesday against Cleveland in the wake of firing head coach Adrian Griffin. Milwaukee may have put up a gaudy number, 126 points on Cleveland, but I'm not buying that this team is fixed with Griffin out of the way and Doc Rivers coming in as the team's new head coach, even though the newly hired Rivers' won coach in this one.

If you dig into the Wednesday night box score, you'll see that the teams played each other even, but the game was decided at the free throw line as the Bucks took 13 more free throws than Cleveland in the win.

I believe the Cavs, who have the second-best defense in the NBA since the start of 2024, can keep a lid on the Milwaukee defense and keep this one competitive. While the Bucks may see some improved results on defense, this is still a unit that is 27th in points allowed per 100 possessions in the month of January. That's not a team I can trust to cover a spread by multiple possessions.

Give me Cleveland to cover in the second of two in a row

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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