Game Time: 7:30 PM ET, Friday, December 31st, 2021 

Venue:  Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, Cleveland, Ohio

Where to Watch:  NBA League Pass

DraftKings:  Spread: NL 

BetMGM:  Spread:  NL

VegasInsider:  Spread:  NL

Hawks: 15-19, 12th place Eastern Conference

Cavaliers: 20-14, 5th place Eastern Conference

Last year the Atlanta Hawks looked like the young, exciting, stacked Eastern Conference team that would do damage in the playoffs for years to come, while the Cleveland Cavaliers looked like the door mats of the league for years to come. That script has flipped!  With New Year's now upon us a few previously bad NBA teams have announced themselves as new contenders like the Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls, and even the Memphis Grizzlies out West.  A few quality NBA teams have announced themselves as done and ready to rebuild like the Atlanta Hawks, the Boston Celtics, and the Toronto Raptors.  Though it may ot be as drastic as all that… it may be a function of injury or Covid insecurity… still it looks like that.  HAPPY NEW YEAR!  Let’s make that money!

The Atlanta Hawks have a bona fide young star point guard in Trae Young.  He scores seemingly at will, launching 3-pointers from anywhere.  He makes clean passes that lead to easy baskets for teammates.  He is the most likely current day player to have any shot at Stephen Curry’s 3-point record (he will have to play a long time though).  His weakness is he is soft on defense because of his slight build and tendency to gamble on the passing lane instead of actually staying between his man and the basket. The whole Hawks team is a bit like that… strong in lots of areas, but soft in ways that are too glaring to produce enough wins.  The glaring problem at the moment is Covid and a wrist injury to third year PF DeAndre Hunter.  The Hawks are currently on a three-game losing streak to the Chicago Bulls twice and the New York Knicks.  In fact they have only won 3 of their last ten games… dating back to when Deandre Hunter hurt that wrist and started missing games.  During the ten game stretch they are 3-7 ATS and 5-5 O/U.. so they are consistently not a safe bet unless you are betting against them.

The Cleveland Cavaliers lost their last game to the New Orleans Pelicans… After last game they also found out that PG Ricky Rubio will be out for the season with a knee injury.  It’s a shame since Ricky was having a really good season and contributing to the resurgent Cavaliers in a big way.  With PG Collin Sexton out with a knee injury since November 19th and PG Darius Garland on the Covid list and not eligible to come back for a few days… there will be some scrambling to fill the spot.  Someone will get called up from the G-League or signed from the free agent pool.. It will affect winning in the short term.  This is a good team with the momentum of having won 7 out of their last ten games, it would be a shame if this rough patch gets too rough.  A gamblers dilemma is trying to figure out the point guard value going forward as the Cavs are 8-2 ATS over their last ten games.

Al McMordie was 3-3 yesterday, as he cashed his NHL Game of the Week on Washington, as well as hoops plays on William and Mary and Alabama. Big Al's now 41-26 his last 67, and is featuring this NBA Elite Info Winner out of a 115-70 ATS situation. Don't miss out!! Go get it! Get Big Al's picks right now at the Shop Picks page, where you can find all of the Best Bets from our champion sports handicappers. NCAAF, NFL, MLB… get positive value from all your bets! Expert picks!  Fun fact… winning a wager is much better than making a wager!

The Hawks are 15-19 on the season, but 13-21 ATS.  They have logged 17 Overs and 17 Unders. They are 7-10 in road games.

The Cavs are 20-14 on the season, but 25-9 ATS.  They have notched 13 Overs and 21 Unders.  They are 10-7 in home games.

The Hawks are 10th in scoring with 110.3 points per game, 11th in rebounds with 45.5 per game, and 4th in AST/TO with 1.9.  They are shooting 13th in FG%, 2nd in 3PT%, and 5th in FT%.  These are all great offensive rankings… of course their record reflects the defensive shortcomings… 24th on defense while allowing 110.3 ppg… They give up as many points as they score on average.

The Cavaliers are 16th in scoring with 107.8 points per game, 14th in rebounds with 45.4, and 17th in AST/TO ratio with 1.6.  They are shooting 10th in FG%, 12th in 3PT%, 7th in FT%.... The best part of this team is the DEFENSE… they are 2nd on the league, holding opponents to 101.6 ppg.

 

Our prediction for Friday, December 31st is….  Cavaliers 106 - Hawks 99

The Cavaliers should handle the Hawks by splitting the PG duties between SG Isaac Okoro and PG Kevin Pangos.  Both those guys won’t be able to create offense like Ricky or Darius… but they both will be an upgrade defensively.

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Cleveland is 4-0 ATS versus the Hawks at Cleveland over the last 3 seasons.

3 of 4 of those games have gone Under the total.

Cleveland is 5-1 ATS overall versus Atlanta over the last 3 seasons.

Hawks:  PF Deandre Hunter (wrist) Out ** PF John Collins (covid) Out ** SG Bojan Bogdanovic (covid) Out ** C Gorgei Dieng (covid) Out ** PG Delon Wright (covid) Out

Cavaliers: PG Ricky Rubio (knee) Out ** C Jarrett Allen (conditioning) Out ** PG Darius Garland (covid) Out ** SF Cedi Osman (covid) Out… They may get PG RJ Nembhard back from the Covid list.

Hawks: SF Cam Reddish, PF Chaundee Brown, C Clint Capela, SG Skylar Mays, PG Trae Young

Cavaliers: SF Lauri Markkanen, PF Dean Wade, C Evan Mobley, PG Kevin Pangos, SG Isaac Okoro

Hawks

Points: Trae Young 27.3

Assists: Trae Young 9.3

Rebounds: Clint Capela 12.8

Steals: Malcolm Hill 1.3

Blocks: Onyeka Okongwu 2.0

Cavaliers

Points: Darius Garland 19.5

Assists: Darius Garland 7.3

Rebounds: Jarrett Allen 10.8

Steals: Ricky Rubio 1.4

Blocks Evan Mobley 1.8

Hawks: Nate McMillan

Cavs: J.B. Bickerstaff