What Do the Numbers Tell Us in the Hawks-Cavs Series?
By Charles Jay
The Cleveland Cavaliers had 36 occasions this season when one of their players scored 30 or more points. The Atlanta Hawks had ONE. In other words, one team is far less dependent on the offensive production of one or two players than the other. Vietbet customers have to know that will probably impact the East finals in one way or another, in terms of the way it is played.
In the NBA betting odds that have been established by the folks at Vietbet, the Cavs, who are the lower seed and only three home games out of seven, are the favorites:
Cleveland Cavaliers -220
Atlanta Hawks +180
So will the fact that the Hawks outscored the Cavs in the paint by an average of eleven points in the four games these two played against each other. Al Horford is going to have to be dealt with. The Atlanta center has shot just under 80% in the “restricted area” during the playoffs, and Cleveland may have just the guy to deal with him, as they made the key acquisition of Timofey Mozgov, who does a tremendous job guarding the rim; the Cavs’ opponents have shot just 35% from short range when he is there.
The respective Offensive Ratings of these teams was pretty high when they played each other this season – Atlanta had a 114.2, while Cleveland had a 110.8. In only one of the four encounters did the Hawks have their entire starting lineup intact.
Unquestionably a lot of eyes are going to be on Kyrie Irving, Cleveland’s point guard and second scoring option, who was already hobbled with tendinitis in his knee and also has a strained foot. He has just come back to practice, and his status is a concern for Cavalier fans and NBA bettors who are looking Cleveland’s way, because even though he has not been much of a playmaker in the post-season, he has been pretty accurate from long-range, hitting 59% of the uncontested three-pointers he’s had.
Vietbet patrons who are considering the total should be mindful not only of the aforementioned Offensive Ratings in head-to-head action, but also the “Pace” figure so these teams in the playoffs. The Cavs are generally a team that likes to set things up in the half-court, so they are going to be a rather “slow” team, and indeed, only five teams averaged fewer than their 92.3 possessions per 48 minutes. Atlanta was at 93.9, but when these teams got on the floor against each other, it got accelerated just a bit, to 95.4, and that would be equal to the eighth “swiftest” team in the league (Sacramento).
And for those who were wondering how often these teams heave up the threes, well, let’s put that into perspective: the Houston Rockets, who are playing the Golden State Warriors in the other conference final, attempt triples most frequently – an insane 39.2% of the time. But the Cavs (33.4%) and Hawks (32.1%) are second and forth, respectively, in the NBA as far as three-pointers expressed as a percentage of overall shot attempts. The Hawks have hot 38% as a team, and that was with a big contribution from Kyle Korver, who was 49% for the year. But Korver will need to boost his game, as he has been accurate only 35% of the time in the playoffs.
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