Couple to kick off the week.
Cavaliers @ Raptors - Donovan Mitchell over 30.5 points
I don't usually go for high lines on star players, but this one was staring me right in the face and looks too good to avoid. The Cavs are helplessly depleted tonight, with three starters in Jarrett Allen, Deandre Hunter and Darius Garland set to sit the game out, as will Sam Merrill and Craig Porter. Slotting into the line-up in their place will likely be Lonzo Ball, Jaylon Tyson and Dean Wade if he plays, none of whom are going to take nearly as many shots as the players they are replacing. Expect Mobley to do a little more, but he's never really a huge volume of shots guy at this stage of his career, and outside of him they have very little in the way of offense. Already Mitchell has been absolutely balling, scoring 30 nearly every night and 37 in his last game, and with all those guys out he is probably going to need to take 25+ shots in a game the Cavs will still rate themselves a chance of winning. It would be no surprise to see Mitchell put up a 40-piece tonight.
Mavericks @ Heat - Kel'el Ware over 11.5 rebounds
Ware's minutes are down slightly since the return of Adebayo, but he's still getting enough to put up some strong statistical numbers, particularly in the rebounding category. He's a huge man and is using those endless arms to grab just about everything that falls off the rim of late, and in his last 8 games is averaging a massive 14.4 boards per night. As mentioned, he's not getting 30+ minutes the last three games as he was before Bam's return, but even in 19, 28 and 26 minutes in those three games he has grabbed 16, 14 and 16 rebounds. Ware is playing easily well enough to justify big minutes over his past couple of games, but coach Spo seems to like playing a relatively small line-up alongside Adebayo to facilitate the Heat's run and gun gamestyle. With Herro returning tonight, there is the potential for even more minutes with a four guard/wing + Adebayo line-up, but Herro will likely only play limited minutes and offsetting his return is the absence of Norm Powell. Ware should still be getting 25-30 minutes tonight assuming his offense keeps up, and if he does there's no reason he won't be pushing 15 boards once again.
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