Tip-off: Friday, 10:35 p.m. ET
Line: Cleveland -4.5, Total: 210.5

The Cavaliers finish off their four-game road trip with a matchup against the disappointing Nuggets on Friday night.

Cleveland has really played underwhelming basketball since putting together the star-studded cast of LeBron James, Kevin Love and Kyrie Irving while going 1-3 (SU and ATS) over its first four games of the season. The Cavs have shot the ball poorly with less than 42% of their shots dropping in each of their past three games, including a mere 41.7% FG in Wednesday’s loss to the Jazz. Cleveland went into the contest as a 5.5-point favorite on the road and let the Jazz shoot 50.6% from the floor while losing 102-100 after giving up a buzzer-beater. Denver has also played poorly in the early going while losing SU and ATS in each of its past three games as the club is being defeated by an average of 12.7 PPG. The Nuggets defense has struggled while allowing opponents to put up 110+ points in each of their past two contests and allowed Sacramento to walk all over them on Wednesday, when the 3.5-point underdog Kings shot 42-of-76 (55.3% FG) in the 131-109 rout of Denver. These two teams have split their games SU (2-2) in the past two seasons while the Cavs are 3-1 ATS and were victors in both contests last season. The Nuggets really had trouble on offense in the games while shooting a combined 76-for-184 (41% FG) in the two losses. Trends show that Denver is a meager 3-15 ATS (17%) when playing on Friday nights since the start of last season while Cleveland has the identical record in November games over the same timeframe. There are no injuries for either team going into this game.

Will the Cavaliers get back on track Friday in Denver? For the answer, connect to The Platinum Sheet for all the Expert picks throughout the entire 2014-15 season. StatFox Zach posted a 54% ATS mark (65-56-4) in NBA Best Bets last season, while StatFox Forecaster had a 53.4% ATS (207-181-12) in featured games last season. StatFox Scott and StatFox Gary are both off to a great start to the 2014-15 campaign at 63% ATS (5-3).

The Cavaliers have had their issues on the offensive side of things while scoring 96.5 PPG on a poor 40.5% shooting from the field (2nd-worst in league). They haven’t been able to get it done on defense either as they have allowed the eight-most points (101.5 PPG) and third-highest FG Pct. (49.5%). SF LeBron James (23.8 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 4.8 APG, 2.0 SPG) has made just 41% of his attempts thus far while surpassing 30 points twice in the first four games. In his 20 career performances against the Nuggets, James has recorded 26.4 PPG (48% FG), 7.9 APG, 7.1 RPG and 1.4 SPG. PF Kevin Love (17.8 PPG, 12.0 RPG, 40% threes) is a double-double machine and already has three on the season, but struggled against the Jazz with a season-low 14 points on 2-of-10 shooting. He has enjoyed taking on Denver with 20.9 PPG (44% FG) and 13.6 RPG while hitting 22-of-66 (33%) threes. PG Kyrie Irving (22.0 PPG, 3.8 APG, 1.3 SPG) had a big scoring game in the loss to Utah, dropping 34 points on 12-of-23 shooting, but failing to record a single assist. He’s taken on Denver just five times in his career, tallying 23.6 PPG (46% FG) to go along with 6.4 APG and 2.0 SPG.

The Nuggets have always been known for being a prolific offense, but have put up just 98.5 PPG while having the third-worst FG Pct. (40.6%). Their defense has been equally as bad while giving up a whopping 105.5 PPG (3rd-worst in NBA) and allowing their opponents to shoot 44.9% from the floor. PG Ty Lawson (12.5 PPG, 7.8 APG) has totaled 21 assists in his past two contests, but has hit a meager 13-of-34 (38%) shots on the season. He has also done very poorly in his eight games (5 starts) against the Cavaliers, as he has averaged 10.9 PPG (33% FG), 6.5 APG and 1.6 SPG. PF Kenneth Faried (10.8 PPG, 9.5 RPG) has a double-double in two of four games to start the season, but is coming off a horrible performance (4 points, 5 rebounds) in the loss to Sacramento. He has shot an amazing 64% FG over his five career games against Cleveland while scoring 10.8 PPG and grabbing 7.4 RPG. SG Arron Afflalo (11.8 PPG, 3.3 RPG) has been the team’s second leading scorer despite shooting a poor 36% on all attempts while making just 5-of-18 (28%) from behind the arc. Last season as a member of the Magic, Afflalo averaged 14.8 PPG (39% FG), 4.5 APG and 4.3 RPG over four games against Cleveland.