Dana Lane Sports Picks

The Cleveland Cavaliers aim to continue their sterling play at home on Tuesday against former face of the franchise LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the streaking Los Angeles Lakers.

The Cavaliers are returning home after dropping a 92-81 decision to the New York Knicks on Sunday. Cleveland fell to 5-8 on the road this season and looks vastly different than the team that has compiled a 10-1 record at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.

"On the road, I feel like we have been playing a little slower than at home. We're energetic at home. We get that energy from the crowd, and it fuels us," Evan Mobley said, per Cleveland.com. "We just have to transfer that pace and style of play over. We have to bring that energy ourselves. Players. Coaches. Everybody. On the court. On the bench. Just create our own energy because the crowd is definitely not going to do that for us."

Donovan Mitchell made himself at home on Sunday because, well, he was home. The New York native scored a team-high 23 points in a losing effort against the Knicks.

In less than 48 hours, the Denver Nuggets went from flying high to crashing and burning. A two-game losing streak can do that to a team, especially coming off four straight wins.

Denver lost two very winnable games at Atlanta and New Orleans and now has to be ready for the Dallas Mavericks, who are in town for a Tuesday night matchup.

Dallas is looking for a little payback against the Nuggets, who stole a game from the Mavericks in Dallas despite missing Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon in the 98-97 victory. That kick-started a four-game skid for the Mavericks, but they've bounced back to win three of their last four.

Denver has those three back but might be without Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (wrist). Michael Porter Jr. (heel) is already ruled out for Tuesday night, but Jeff Green (knee) is likely to return to action.

The injuries have forced head coach Michael Malone to shuffle his lineups, which has had an impact on the bench play. Reserves have been thrust into the starting lineup and there has been a lack of consistency from the bench.

It was evident in the loss to the Pelicans on Sunday afternoon when New Orleans' bench outscored the Nuggets' second unit 62-18.

It's been a solid first two months of the season for the Winnipeg Jets. But while the start of the campaign has gone well, starts of games have been a different story, and one they'll try to rectify when they host the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.

The Jets scored five unanswered goals after trailing 2-0 in a 5-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks, the last-place team in the Pacific Division, in their most recent outing Sunday.

It was the second straight game and the third time in its past six that Winnipeg has trailed by multiple goals.

"I'm the head coach so I'm responsible for the way we start and getting our team prepared. So that starts with me," Winnipeg coach Rick Bowness said. "The second thing is, I'm not a babysitter. These guys are men. They're professionals and they're paid to show up here and go to work. My job here is to make that happen."

The Jets have allowed 22 goals in the first period, their highest total of the three periods, and have scored only 15. They've had to come from behind in seven of their 15 wins this season, and five of their victories have come after trailing after the opening frame.

Mitchell Marner will try to extend his team-record 19-game point streak and help the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs regain their winning form Tuesday night against the Dallas Stars.

Marner set the club record Saturday night with two goals -- the first while Toronto was short-handed -- in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the opener of a two-game road trip.

Toronto had won its previous five games.

"It's special growing up to watch this team play hockey and now to have my name in something -- pretty amazing, it's hard to describe," Marner said. "Like I've been saying, it's not a one-man effort out there. It's five men. Great effort by Dave (Kampf) on the first one. A lot of love to my guys for helping me achieve this accomplishment."

Darryl Sittler (1977-78 season) and Eddie Olczyk (1989-90) each had 18-game point streaks for Toronto.

Marner has nine goals and 17 assists during his streak.

"To secure the record, it's great to see," Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. "Very well-deserved. He was excellent again (Saturday)."

Keefe wasn't the only one impressed by Marner's feat.

The Pittsburgh Penguins and visiting Columbus Blue Jackets meet Tuesday in a Metropolitan Division matchup.

The teams played Oct. 22 in Columbus, with Pittsburgh coming out with a 6-3 win. Since then, things have continued to go better for the Penguins, while the Blue Jackets have dropped to the bottom of not only the division, but also the Eastern Conference.

Pittsburgh has points in 11 of its past 13 games (9-2-2), including two wins in a row.

In those two Penguins' wins, there was a clear standout. While others compiled points, none got as much attention as winger Kasperi Kapanen.

He scored the deciding goal midway through the third Thursday in a 4-3 win against the Vegas Golden Knights, then had his second career hat trick Saturday in a 6-2 win against the St. Louis Blues.

The game against the Golden Knights was just Kapanen's second following seven in a row in which he was a healthy scratch after he struggled, as he hadn't scored a goal since the season opener.

Dallas erased a three-goal disadvantage to defeat the Chicago Blackhawks 6-4 in regulation on Nov. 23. Two nights later, Jason Robertson scored twice with the goaltender removed for an extra attacker to force overtime against the Winnipeg Jets before losing 5-4.

"It's a good feeling to have a lot of belief in here," Stars defenseman Ryan Suter said. "Everyone believes in each other and knows that that next line can go get us something, either some momentum or a goal."

The Stars are 1-0-1 after two games of a five-game homestand.

"It's 5-1 with 12 minutes left," DeBoer said. "We could be walking out of here with nothing. That's a really critical point, and you can't underestimate the fight in the group."

Dallas is 0-5 in games that have gone to overtime, including a 0-2 record in shootouts.

Firmly entrenched in a recent run of superb play, the Tampa Bay Lightning are adhering to one of the most common narratives this time of year -- being home for the holidays.

After a November in which they went 8-4-1, the Lightning will play the second contest of their season-long six-game homestand Tuesday when they host the Detroit Red Wings in the first of four matchups this season.

In all, Tampa Bay will play eight more December matches at its home by the bay, closing out 2022 with three home tilts in four days -- versus the Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers and Arizona Coyotes.

Home ice has been good to the third-place Lightning, who are 8-3-1 on it and coming off an impressive meeting with the division-rival Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night.

The Lightning scored twice on the power play in the third period to take a 3-2 lead, then saw veteran Alex Killorn pot the game-winning goal 33 seconds into overtime for a 4-3 victory over the second-place Leafs.

Lightning coach Jon Cooper, whose squad was 2-for-6 on the power play but allowed Mitch Marner's short-handed tally, said special teams created a "weird" flow throughout.

Under is 7-3 in Roadrunners last 10 road games and 19-7 in Spartans last 26 home games

Although there isn't much reason to back the Bison, the Explorers are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games overall and I can't lay the 6.5 until they right the ship. 

Georgia will look to extend its winning streak to four games when it visits Georgia Tech on Tuesday in Atlanta.

The Bulldogs (7-2) are coming off a 68-46 win over visiting Florida A&M on Friday, while Georgia Tech (5-3) pulled away for an 81-63 victory over Northeastern on Friday for its second win in its past five games.

Georgia had four players out against the Rattlers -- Kario Oquendo (13.7 points per game, sore knee), Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe (5.0 ppg, right ankle), leading scorer Terry Roberts (14 ppg, illness) and center Frank Anselem (3.1 ppg, illness).

"You're already searching offensively, and now you're searching at another level," first-year Georgia coach Mike White said, adding all four will be game-time decisions against the Yellow Jackets. "You've got to adapt, right? We told guys at shootaround, 'Hey, you all want more opportunity, (well) here it comes.'"

Mardrez McBride responded by recording 15 points and nine rebounds, while Jabri Abdur-Rahim added 14 points and Braelen Bridges finished with 10 points and eight rebounds against the Rattlers.

Georgia has already surpassed its win total from last year and is off to a strong start under White, who arrived after leading Florida for the previous seven seasons. He replaced Tom Crean, who was let go after the Bulldogs went 6-26 last season.

Under is 7-3 in Seahawks last 10 games following a ATS win and 5-2 to the under in Seahawks last 7 overall

Chanticleers are 7-3 ATS in their last 10 road games, while the Terriers are 3-8 ATS in their last 11 home games vs. a team with a losing road record