Hawks and Cavs Engage in Friday Night NBA Betting Battle

Game 1 of the Easter Conference Finals in the NBA turned into a bit of a nightmare for the Atlanta Hawks. Not only did they lose 97-89 to the Cleveland Cavaliers, they also watched as DeMarre Carroll, arguably their best player this postseason, was forced to leave through injury. Whether or not he will return for Game 2 in Atlanta on Friday night is still very much up in the air, and NBA betting fans should keep an eye on this match. The Hawks, as expected, came out of the gate pretty quickly, but the Cavs did a pretty good job of weathering that early storm, thanks in large part to the less than stellar shooting of the Hawks. Jeff Teague certainly did his thing by chipping in 27 points in a losing cause, but he got little in the way of help from his supporting cast. Al Horford was the second highest scorer for Atlanta with 16 points, and Kyle Korver was pretty much invisible for large portions of the game. In fairness to the Hawks, they did show some real grit at a time when it looked like the game was all over. They were down by as many as 16 points, but managed to cut that lead to 4 with time running out. It was LeBron James who delivered the dagger to the heart with a late basket that essentially sealed the deal. If the Hawks want to get back into this one, they are going to have to improve on their 4 for 23 mark from 3-point range. While James will get most of the headlines with his 31 points, 6 assists, and 8 rebound performance, it was J.R. Smith who was really the star of the show for Cleveland in Game 1. Smith scored all 28 points contributed by the bench, and it was his baskets that helped the Cavaliers really start to pull away at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Furthermore, Smith set a new Cavaliers franchise playoff record by hitting 8 of 12 3-pointers. Cleveland were able to win important battles all over the court, and had a huge edge in rebounding versus a smaller Atlanta team. Judging by Game 1, it certainly looks as though the Cavaliers have created the perfect blueprint to beat Atlanta quite handily, but it’s important to remember that this was far from a great performance by the Hawks.

NBA Betting Trends

A lot is going to ride on the health of DeMarre Carroll heading into Game 2 and the remainder of the series. The Hawks were solid at home all year, and it’s tough to imagine them losing 2 in a row at Phillips Arena, even without Carroll. I think they head to Cleveland with the series tied up.