All Over but the Crying – Cleveland at Atlanta Game 3

Cleveland Cavaliers at Atlanta Hawks
Game 3 – Eastern Conference Playoff Series (Cleveland leads 2-0)
Saturday, May 9

BetOnline NBA Basketball Sports Betting Odds:  CLEVELAND -8, Total 180

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

* CLEV has won its last six games SU
* CLEV has won 24 of its last 27 games SU
* CLEV has covered its last ten games
* CLEV has played four of its last five games UNDER the total
* CLEV has won eight of its last ten road games SU
* CLEV has covered five of its last seven road games
* ATL has covered four of its last 12 games
* ATL has played five of its last seven games UNDER the total
* ATL has won five of its last six home games SU

Also…

* CLEV has won six of the last seven meetings SU
* Five of the last seven meetings have gone OVER the total
* CLEV has won eight of the last ten meetings SU as the road team
* ATL has covered three of the last four meetings as the home team
* CLEV has covered seven of the last ten meetings as the road team
* CLEV has had the shooting edge in six of the last seven meetings
* CLEV has had the rebounding edge in nine of the last 11 meetings

Atlanta was just smothered by the Cleveland defense on Thursday night. The Hawks shot just 35% from the floor, had eleven shots blocked, and this time quit the game by halftime, in a 105-85 loss to the Cavs who now go up 2-0. What’s interesting is that Atlanta shot 8-for-17 from three-point range, pulled down 18 offensive rebounds and forced 17 Cleveland turnovers and they still lost by such a wide margin. In fact, the Cavaliers led by as many as 36 points in the third quarter.

They just couldn’t defend. The Cavs shot almost 54% from the field, and Wally Szczerbiak was a marksman off the bench, hitting seven of nine shots in his 21 minutes. LeBron James only needed 14 shots to score 27 points. Atlanta was not helped by the fact that Al Horford and Maurice Williams had to sit out of the game because of injuries.

Last year the Hawks were able to bounce back at home to beat the Boston Celtics a couple of times after going down 2-0 in their series, but right now, Atlanta looks like a team in collapse. Horford is going to be of little if any use. Joe Johnson was 5-for-15 from the field on Thursday before injuring his ankle, and he is questionable, having missed practice on Friday, although one couldn’t imagine him sitting this one out.

Cleveland has now won six consecutive playoff games by double digits. Fundamentally speaking, what are the reasons why they couldn’t repeat that, against a team filled with walking wounded that is obviously outclassed and intimidated? If you’re a fan of the Hawks, I guess you can point to the fact that they beat Miami by margins of 26, 15 and 13 at the Phillips Arena, but they also lost Game 2 in Atlanta to the Heat by 15 points.

Boy, you hate to lay this kind of number to a team with its back to the wall at home in the third game of a series, but this looks like an extraordinary circumstance. I don’t think the Hawks believe they can win, and so I don’t like their chances either. We’re laying it with Cleveland, the eight-point favorite in the BetOnline NBA pro basketball playoff betting odds.

JAY’S PLAY:  CLEVELAND -8 **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)