Searching for their fifth win in six games, the Minnesota Timberwolves host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night.
The pregame narrative: Tonight's matchup is the front end of a home-and-home series, and the T-wolves are favoured to get the win at Target Center. The Cavs have the NBA's worst ATS record (12-26-0), according to Team Rankings.
Check out my Cavaliers vs. Timberwolves SGP predictions for Jan. 8, featuring prop bets on Anthony Edwards and Donovan Mitchell.
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Cavaliers vs. Timberwolves SGP
Parlay: Timberwolves ML | Edwards 3+ threes | Mitchell over 4.5 assists (+290)
Timberwolves moneyline (-134): Cleveland won 64 games last year en route to claiming the top seed in the Eastern Conference. But this year's squad has been disappointing, playing at a 45-win pace despite rostering the same core.
With that in mind, I'm not worried about the fact that the Cavaliers won and covered in both matchups vs. the Timberwolves a season ago. It's a new year, and Minnesota has been a markedly better squad.
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It's also easier to back the T-wolves at home, where they've already beaten some of the NBA's best: Celtics, Spurs, Thunder and Knicks.
Minnesota has a +6.4 net rating at home this season, which ranks eighth in the NBA.
Two nights ago, while the Cavs were scraping by an awful Pacers squad on the road (120-116), the T-wolves were at home blowing out the playoff-calibre Miami Heat (122-94).
NBA SGP legs
Edwards 3+ threes (-167): Cleveland is allowing the highest opponent 3PT% in the NBA right now (37.8), and Edwards is the most likely player to take advantage of that.
- Edwards is having his most efficient season ever from beyond the arc, shooting 40.7% on 8.3 attempts per game. That equates to an average of 3.4 makes.
- The two-time reigning All-NBA guard has 3+ threes in 19 of 30 games.
- In Minnesota's past 10 games, Edwards is shooting 39.1% from deep. No one else on the team is shooting north of 33.0% (minimum 2.5 attempted threes per game).
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Last year, Edwards went crazy against the Cavs as an outside shooter. In just two games, he went 12-for-26 (46.2%) from deep.
You can get Edwards over 3.5 threes at or around even money, which I think is a good standalone play. But I'll take a safer route for the SGP.
Mitchell over 4.5 assists (-157): As a shooting guard who's averaging just under of 30 points per night, Mitchell might not strike you as much of a facilitator.
But the attention he draws as a scorer means that there's often an open shooter to kick to when he has the ball. And Mitchell isn't shy about doing that.
-> Full Cavaliers vs. Timberwolves prop betting markets
Mitchell is averaging 5.4 assists this year, putting him on track to post 5.0 APG or more for a fifth time in six seasons. He is 26-8 vs. this prop.
Last year, Mitchell cashed this prop easily in both showdowns with Minnesota. He had a seven and eight assists, respectively, in those games.
Cavaliers vs. Timberwolves predictions made at 9:20 a.m. on Jan. 8, 2026.
