The Cleveland Cavaliers are 5-0 straight up and 3-2 against the spread through the first five games of their 2016 postseason run. The Cavaliers will try to stay undefeated with another win at home over the Atlanta Hawks on Wednesday.
Hawks vs. Cavaliers 2016 odds: Cleveland looking for sixth straight playoff win in Game 2
The Cleveland Cavaliers will be looking to take a 2-0 series lead on the Atlanta Hawks in Game 2 on Wednesday as solid betting favorites.
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Cleveland is a 7.5-point home betting favorite in Wednesday night’s Game 2 at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. This is the same spread that the Cavaliers were favored over Atlanta by in Game 1 of this series.
The whole game wasn’t pretty for the Cavaliers, but a strong start and a strong finish propelled the home team to a 104-93 win in Game 1. Cleveland, heavily favored to emerge from the Eastern pack, led by 11 at the end of the first quarter and 10 at the end of the first half after jumping out to the early lead on the hot shooting of Kyrie Irving.
Atlanta closed the gap and even took an 80-79 lead with eight minutes left in the game, but Cleveland asserted its will down the stretch to end the game on an 18-7 run.
In their last 30 games as postseason home favorites, the Cleveland Cavaliers are 25-5 SU and 18-12 ATS, per the OddsShark NBA Database.
The Atlanta Hawks did an admirable job of keeping Game 1 close for the first three and a half quarters, never letting the Cavaliers pull away by getting timely shots and spots. But on the other hand, the Hawks always looked to be a step behind the Cavaliers and didn’t ever seem to have a real shot at pulling off the upset.
To beat Cleveland in this series, Atlanta will need to find a way to prevent Irving and LeBron James from controlling the tempo. The Hawks enter Game 2 with a 6-18 SU and 9-15 ATS record in their last 24 postseason road games.
Wednesday's total is set at 198.5 points at the sportsbooks. The UNDER is 4-0 in Atlanta's last four games and 3-0-1 in Cleveland's last four.
Atlanta's tough defense and depth will prevent Cleveland from running away with too many games in this series, but it may not be enough to overcome the Cavaliers' elite-level talent. After narrowly covering the spread in Game 1, Cleveland will try to earn another double-digit win in Game 2.
