All Over but the Crying – Cavaliers at Hawks Game 4

BetOnline NBA Basketball Sports Betting Odds: CLEVELAND -10, Total 183

Here are some of the NBA pro basketball sports betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

• CLEV has won its last seven games SU
• CLEV has covered its last eleven games
• CLEV has played five of its last six games UNDER the total
• CLEV has won and covered its last five road games
• ATL has lost four of its last five games SU
• ATL has covered one of its last five games
• ATL has played four of its last five games UNDER the total
• ATL has covered four of its last 12 home games
• ATL has won 14 of its last 19 home games SU
• ATL has played four of its last six home games UNDER the total

Also…

• CLEV has covered 16 of the last 24 meetings
• CLEV has won the last five meetings SU
• CLEV has covered eight of the last 11 meetings as the road team
• CLEV has won nine of the last 11 meetings SU as the road team
• Four of the last six meetings in Atlanta have gone UNDER the total
• CLEV has had the shooting edge in each of the last five meetings
• CLEV has had the rebounding edge in eight of the last ten meetings
• ATL has made more three-pointers in four of the last six meetings

So what else is new? After the Hawks were competitive in the first half of the game, the Cavs wore them down and pulled away, turning it into a mop-up situation in the second half of their 97-82 victory that put them three games up. LeBron James has 47 points and continues his hot shooting in the series, and he and Anderson Varejao took control of the boards, limiting Atlanta to 23 total rebounds.

What was interesting is that Cleveland didn’t go to its bench very much. Joe Smith had seven points, and that was it. There was very little playing time given to anyone else. The message i get from that is that this team wants to close the series as soon as possible, because they realize getting some rest will have its residual effects as they go from one series to the next, and they’ll have a lot in the gas tank as they go forward.

Joe Johnson did better in Game 3, with 21 points, but it seems too little, too late for this club. Earlier in the series, the Hawks just suffered from lack of effort. At this point, though, that’s not the problem. Mike Woodson, who lit into this team after the first game, has said that "I like the way we played [in Game 3], though. We didn’t quit. We kept playing. And a great team beat us."

No, the difficulty with Atlanta right now lies in the fact that people are playing hurt. That means Johnson, Al Horford and Marvin Williams, who just happen to be three members of the starting five. You want quotes? Here’s something that is not so encouraging from Johnson, who is the top scorer and acknowledged team leader: “I don’t know what we’ve got left. Hopefully, we’ll play with a little fire and not let them close it out on our home court. But I don’t know.”

Would you bet on a team like that when there appears to be a superior contingent on the other side with a superstar who won’t let up, the best defense in the league, and to boot, highly motivated to end this thing here and now? You can crunch all the numbers you want; the bottom line is that if Cleveland wants to win this by double digits, as they have all the playoff games, would engaging in any other thoughts be anything but wild speculation?

I’m taking the Cavs and laying the ten points in the BetOnline NBA playoff odds.

JAY’S PLAY: CLEVELAND -10

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