JEFF ALLEN GAME PREVIEW: ATLANTA at CLEVELAND GAME ONE
The Hawks and Cavs square off in Game One of their Eastern Conference semifinal tonight at The Quick
in Cleveland. At face, this would seem to be Cleveland walkover with the Cavs winners of the last seven of
the series while going 6-1 against the number. The number on the side opened at Cleveland -7.5 and has
not moved. The total opened at 200.5, was bet up to 201.5 in some houses but a deluge of under money
has the high/low down to 199 1/2 in most locations at this writing. The 7:05 PM EST tip in the first half of the
TNT double header followed by the Thunder/Spurs at 9:35 EST.
The Hawks are off their first series win over the Boston Celtics since 1958, winning that best-of-seven four
games to two. The Hawks could have very well swept the series but lost both of the first two road games in
Bean Town in games they led big. In game four, they led by double-digits midway through the third quarter
before losing their 10th straight overtime game. Hotlanta dominated in the paint vs. an undermanned Celtic
outfit with Paul Milsap (16.3, 8.8, 2.5) and Al Horford (12.5, 8.5, 3.5) both having big series.
The Cavs are off a four game sweep of the Pistons in a series much closer than the final scores indicated.
The Piston led at the half in three of those games and the Cavs were aided by dubious officiating and a
virtually non-existent Motown perimeter defense. To their credit, the Cavs showed excellent unselfish ball
movement and knocked down their wide open looks on what seemed like virtually every possession. Cleveland’s
big three Kyrie Irving (27.5, 2.2, 4.5), Lebron James (22.8, 9.0, 6.8) and Kevin Love (18.8, 12.0, 2.2) were
money the entire series with Josh Smith and Mathew Dellavedova big off the bench.
Cleveland has not played in eight days, Atlanta in four so there figure to be some ring rust for both teams
in this opener. Despite recent Cavs success over the sort term, Cleveland is just 8-6 SU and ATS in the L14
series meetings overall and were anything but dominant in the series with Detroit. The series has been
historically high scoring with the over 50-28 over the L78 meetings over time, 10-4 the L14 and 6-1 L7 on this
floor. With the time off and prior inconsistent play by both teams in the first round, Game One might just be
better to watch.