NBA Knowledge
Atlanta-Cleveland
Cavaliers won their last nine games (8-1 vs spread) vs Hawks, covered last three played here, winning by 2-12-8 points. Five of last seven tilts in series went over total. Cleveland made 25-45 on arc in Game 2, have made 40-76 on arc so far in series. Hawks might want to guard them, just an idea. Atlanta won last six home games since 110-108 OT loss April 1 to Cleveland. Hawks were down 74-38 at the half in Game 2; would be nice if they competed just a little bit harder in this game.
Oklahoma City-San Antonio
San Antonio won seven of its last 11 games with Oklahoma City, but Spurs lost last two visits to Oklahoma by 19-6 points; Thunder won in Game 2, despite its bench being -55 in 66:00 played. Five of last seven series games stayed under total. Spurs won seven last eight games, taking last three on road- they covered five of their last seven. Aldridge scored 41 in Game 2, but only one other guy had mre than 11-- they need to be more balanced. Thunder was 11-42 on arc in two games at Alamo.
Playoff tally: Favorites vs spread: 26-18, Over: 13-31
Second round: Favorites: 5-3, over: 4-4
Armadillosports.com
Friday's NBA Playoffs Betting Preview
By Covers.com
The Atlanta Hawks will be looking to rebound from the drubbing they took at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 2 in the early game and the Spurs travel to Oklahoma City to continue the best series of the playoffs thus far in the nightcap.
Cleveland Cavaliers at Atlanta Hawks (+3, 199)
The Cleveland Cavaliers are fresh off the greatest 3-point shooting performance in NBA history and look to once again dismantle the host Atlanta Hawks in Friday's Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. Cleveland knocked down a record 25 3-pointers - the most in the regular season or postseason - while rolling to a 123-98 win that represents its 10th consecutive playoff victory over the Hawks.
Shooting guard J.R. Smith made seven 3-pointers en route to 23 points while point guard Kyrie Irving and small forward LeBron James each made four as the Cavaliers turned the arena into their personal shooting gallery. "(It) was a special night for all of us who played," James told reporters afterward. "This league has seen so many great teams, so many great players and great shooters and for us to set an all-time record is truly special." Atlanta was demoralized while facing a 74-38 halftime deficit and shooting guard Kyle Korver was in disbelief over what he was viewing. "When they put those shots down, I don't know if anyone can beat them, to be honest," Korver told reporters. "We were hoping that they'd start missing at some point."
LINE HISTORY: The Cavaliers opened up as 2.5-point favorite on the road for this Game 3 matchup, but the betting public jumped all over that line and the books were forced to move the Cavs to -3. The total opened at 200 and dropped slightly to 199 by Thursday evening. Check out the complete line history here.
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (63-25, 41-44-3 ATS, 44-44 O/U): Cleveland made 40 3-pointers over the first two games of the series with a supremely confident Smith leading the way by going 11-of-20 from behind the arc. "Honestly, I feel like that every time I play, to be honest with you," Smith told reporters of his high confidence level. "Whenever I shoot the ball, I have confidence that it's going to go in." The Cavaliers made 18 3-pointers in the first half - eight in the opening quarter, 10 in the second - and 10 different players made at least one.
ABOUT THE HAWKS (52-38, 45-44-1 ATS, 40-50 O/U): Atlanta faces a do-or-die situation in Game 3 and would like to avoid being swept in a playoff series by the Cavaliers for the second straight season. Coach Mike Budenholzer put on the brave face even though his team is reeling and appears to ready to cave. "It's one game," Budenholzer told reporters after the Game 2 trouncing. "They won their two games on their home court. Now we're going home."
TRENDS:
* Cavaliers are 5-0 ATS in their last 5 vs. NBA Southeast.
* Hawks are 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games following a straight up loss.
* Over is 5-1 in Cavaliers last 6 road games vs. a team with a home winning % of greater than .600.
* Under is 7-1 in Hawks last 8 after allowing 100 points or more in their previous game.
* Cavaliers are 6-0 ATS in the last 6 meetings.
San Antonio Spurs at Oklahoma City Thunder (+2, 200)
San Antonio power forward LaMarcus Aldridge has been unstoppable in the Western Conference semifinals but all that production has only provided the Spurs with a split. Aldridge and San Antonio look to move ahead in the series with the host Oklahoma City Thunder when the teams resume play in Friday's Game 3.
Aldridge is 33-of-44 shooting in the two games while putting up 38 and 41 points as the Thunder were powerless to slow him down. "One man can't beat you, so we're fine with that," Oklahoma City backup guard Dion Waiters told reporters. "If they want to continue to get out of their offense and throw the ball down there to him, we're fine with that. One guy can't beat us, no matter how much he scores." The Thunder lost the first game of the series by 32 points before putting forth a much better effort in Monday's controversial 98-97 victory - a contest in which the NBA said there were five officiating calls missed in the final 13.5 seconds. "It's over now," Aldridge told reporters the following day. "You can't keep harping on it."
LINE HISTORY: This is one where the line history link at the end of this paragraph is well worth clicking. The Thunder opened as 1.5-point favorites at home after returning from San Antonio with a split of the first two games. The public bet the Spurs so hard that the books didn't just drop the line a point or two - they flipped the line and installed the Spurs as 1.5-point favorites on the road. Bettors continued to wager on the Spurs so the books moved their line another half point to -2. The total opened at 199 and gradually made its way up to 200 by Thursday evening. Check out the complete line history here.
ABOUT THE SPURS (72-16, 48-40 ATS, 37-49-2 O/U): Aldridge has scored nearly 36 percent of San Antonio's points in the series but he wasn't feeling all that great about his Game 2 performance due to the result. "It feels horrible, feels like it was wasted," Aldridge told reporters. "I've never been about trying to get points and not win - I always try to do things to win. If you win, it's totally a different feeling, but losing like that hurts." Small forward Kawhi Leonard is averaging 19.5 points in the series but had a disappointing showing on Monday with 14 points on 7-of-18 shooting.
ABOUT THE THUNDER (60-29, 41-47-1 ATS, 43-46 O/U): After being dominated in the opening game of the series, Oklahoma City started strong and carried the pace for most of Game 2. "Not only the pace, but we were playing smarter and better," power forward Serge Ibaka told reporters. "We were attacking in the fast break when we had to and when we didn't have an opportunity we slowed it down and ran a play." Point guard Russell Westbrook had 29 points and 10 assists in Game 2 after having just 14 points on 5-of-19 shooting in the opener, and small forward Kevin Durant also had a much-improved showing with 28 points on 11-of-19 shooting after being held to 16 on 6-of-15 shooting in Game 1.
TRENDS:
* Spurs are 1-6 ATS in their last 7 games vs. a team with a winning % above .600.
* Thunder are 0-5 ATS in their last 5 Friday games.
* Under is 13-3 in Spurs last 16 road games vs. a team with a winning home record.
* Under is 8-2 in the last 10 meetings in Oklahoma City.
* Spurs are 2-11 ATS in the last 13 meetings in Oklahoma City.
Friday's Tip Sheet
By Brian Edwards
VegasInsider.com
Cleveland at Atlanta
The East semifinals move to Philips Arena in Atlanta for Game 3 on Friday night. Cleveland ventures south with a 2-0 series advantage. The Cavaliers have won nine in a row over the Hawks while going 8-1 ATS. They are 5-0 both SU and ATS in the five head-to-head meetings this season.
The Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas opened Cleveland (63-25 straight up, 41-44-3 against the spread) as a 2.5-point road favorite with a total of 200 points. Those number hadn’t budged as of Friday afternoon. The Cavs are -145 on the money line, leaving the Hawks at +125 on the comeback (risk $100 to win $125). Tyron Lue’s squad is a 1.5-point ‘chalk’ for first-half wagers.
Cleveland absolutely destroyed Atlanta in Wednesday’s Game 2 by a 123-98 count as a seven-point home favorite. The 221 combined points soared ‘over’ the 196-point total. The Cavs cashed tickets for both first quarter (-2.5, -115) and first-half wagers (-4.5) for a second straight time. With the game tied at 16-16, Lue’s club went on a 19-4 run to go ahead 35-20 heading into the second quarter. That’s when this game turned real ugly, as Cleveland exploded with a flurry of 3-pointers en route to a 74-38 advantage at halftime.
Cleveland drained 25 treys in Game 2 to set an all-time NBA record. Ten different players connected from deep led by J.R. Smith’s seven 3-balls. The Cavs shot at a 55.6 percent clip from long range. LeBron James scored 27 points, grabbed four rebounds, dished out five assists and made three steals. Smith scored 23 points, while Kyrie Irving contributed 19 points and six assists compared to merely one turnover.
Atlanta (52-38 SU, 45-44-1 ATS) was led by Paul Millsap’s 16 points and 11 rebounds. Jeff Teague had 14 points and six assists. Kris Humphries (12), Mike Muscala (10), Al Horford (10) and Thabo Sefolosha (10) were also in double figures. Atlanta head coach wisely rested all of his starters for the entire fourth quarter.
I’ve been perplexed with Budenholzer’s decision in these playoffs to give Muscala the minutes Humphries was getting late in the regular season. Humphries played an average of 14 minutes in the 21 games he played after being acquired by Atlanta, averaging 6.4 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. He has only been given minutes twice in eight postseason games. Granted, they came at garbage time, but Humphries has continued to play well. In Game 2, he produced 12 points, nine rebounds, one assist and one steal in just 15 minutes of playing time. In his only appearance in the Boston series, Humphries finished with eight points, four rebounds and one assists in merely eight minutes of faction.
When a team is getting blasted like Atlanta was Wednesday during a seven-game series in the playoffs, you have to show some toughness and pride. Down by 36 at intermission, the game was over. But the mental warfare was still being waged. While the Cavs were gunning for the 3-point record and their bench was basically holding a dance party the entire night, the Hawks didn’t display any physicality whatsoever. You never want to hurt another player but, again, this is the playoffs. It’s completely inexcusable that no Atlanta player didn’t give any hard fouls in the lane in the second half.
When meeting with the media afterwards, several Atlanta players, including their two veteran leaders in Millsap and Horford, expressed unhappiness with the way the Cavs went about bombing triples in the final stanza in an effort to break the NBA record. Instead of complaining afterwards, a Hawks’ player should’ve just given a statement foul by knocking a Cavs’ 3-point shooter on his ass. Am I implying a quasi cheap shot? You damn right I am. This is the playoffs. A team has to have a backbone unless it’s resigned to going on vacation sooner rather than later.
VegasInsider.com’s Chris David had this take on the side for Game 3: “After watching Atlanta lose the first two games of this series, it’s certainly hard to make a case for them in Game 3. Catching points at home hasn’t happened often for the Hawks this season, only three times. They dropped double digit decisions to the Spurs and Warriors while knocking off the Thunder. I wouldn’t put the Cavaliers in the same class as San Antonio and Golden State but they are steps ahead of Oklahoma City, which makes this number seem fair.”
Cleveland owns a 26-17 SU record and a 18-22-3 ATS mark in its road assignments this year.
Atlanta has compiled a 30-14 SU record and a 24-20 ATS ledger at home this season. As David noted, the Hawks were home underdogs three times this year, going 1-2 both SU and ATS.
The ‘under’ is 50-40 overall for the Hawks, 25-19 in their home outings.
Totals have been an overall wash (44-44) for the Cavs this season. The ‘under’ is 23-20 in their road assignments.
VI’s David likes the total to stay ‘under’ in Game 3. He explained, I believe the oddsmakers jumped the gun on the total for Game 3 and sent an opener of 200 after we saw Game 2 close at 196. I believe the number will drop back down by tip off and I’m leaning to the ‘under’ based on what we’ve seen from Atlanta at home in the playoffs. Since head coach Mike Budenholzer took over, the Hawks have seen the ‘under’ go 12-2 at home in the postseason and that includes a 3-0 record this season. Only two teams have scored 100 points on Atlanta during this span and even though Cleveland won both of the postseason meetings last year at Philips Arena, it scored 97 and 94 points.”
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Eastern on ESPN.
San Antonio at Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City (60-29 SU, 41-47-1 ATS) bounced back from a blowout loss in Game 1 to capture a 98-97 win as a 7.5-point underdog Monday at AT&T Center. The Thunder hooked up money-line supporters with a stellar +320 payout (paid $320 on $100 wagers). Kevin Durant buried a floater with 33 seconds remaining to put his team up 96-91, but San Antonio answered when LaMarcus Aldridge knocked down a 3-ball off an amazing pass from Tony Parker. With OKC leading by four after Russell Westbrook hit a pair of free throws, Aldridge gave Serge Ibaka a pump fake before taking a 3-pointer. Ibaka inexplicably fouled Aldridge in the act of shooting to provide three shots. Aldridge was true on all three from the charity stripe to slice the deficit to one. On the ensuing inbounds play from halfcourt after a timeout, Dion Waiters struggled to find an open man and just before passing the ball nailed Manu Ginobili with an elbow to clear space for a pass. Nevertheless, the entry to Durant was stolen by Danny Green, who eventually passed to Patty Mills, who missed a 3-pointer from the corner. With two seconds left, the teams battled for the rebound under the basket without a call being made. Alas, though it tried to hand San Antonio the game with a slew of knucklehead plays at crunch time, OKC emerged victorious to knot the series at 1-1.
Westbrook produced 29 points, 10 assists, seven rebounds, two steals and one blocked shot in the Game 2 triumph. Durant finished with 28 points, seven boards and four assists, while Ibaka, Enes Kanter and Steven Adams scored 12 points apiece. Adams brought down a game-high 17 rebounds, while Kanter had eight rebounds and three blocked shots.
In the losing effort, Aldridge was sensational again with a game-best 41 points to go with eight rebounds, three assists and a pair of rejections. Kawhi Leonard and Ginobili were the only other Spurs in double figures with 14 and 11 points, respectively. Tim Duncan missed a bunch of high-percentage shots and had only two points on 1-of-8 shooting. Parker struggled too, finishing with seven points and six assists.
For Friday’s Game 3, the Westgate opened OKC as a 1.5-point favorite early on Tuesday morning. The total was 199 points on the send-out. By lunch, however, the Spurs had moved into the 1.5-point ‘chalk’ role. Then on Wednesday, the Spurs were favored by two and that remained the number as of early Thursday night. The total moved from 199 to 200 on Thursday. The Spurs are -130 on the money line, leaving the Thunder at +110 to win outright (risk $100 to win $110). San Antonio is a one-half point favorite for first-half bets.
San Antonio (72-16 SU, 48-40 ATS) smashed OKC in the series opener by winning a 124-92 decision as a 6.5-point home ‘chalk.’ The Spurs led by 33 at halftime and by 39 going into the final stanza. Aldridge was the catalyst with 38 points, while Leonard had 25 points, five rebounds and five assists. Leonard made 10-of-13 shots, while Aldridge hit 18-of-23 attempts from the field. Danny Green chipped in 18 points on 5-of-6 shooting from downtown.
In the Game 1 defeat, Ibaka paced the Thunder with a team-best 19 points, but he’s been getting destroyed at the other end by Aldridge for eight consecutive quarters. Westbrook (5-of-19, 14 points) and Durant (6-of-15, 16 points) had mediocre performances in the series opener.
OKC won both SU and ATS in a pair of regular-season meetings with San Antonio at home. On March 26, the Thunder cruised to a 111-92 win as a 12.5-point home favorite. Durant posted a double-double with 31 points and 10 rebounds, while Westbrook tallied 29 points, eight assists and six rebounds. We should obviously note that Duncan, Aldridge, Leonard and Parker did not play (rest).
On Oct. 28, OKC won a 112-106 decision over the Spurs as a four-point home ‘chalk.’ Westbrook led the way with 33 points and 10 assists, while Leonard countered with 32 points in defeat. San Antonio played all of its players in this encounter.
Gregg Popovich’s team owns a 29-14 SU record and a 22-21 ATS mark at home this year.
Billy Donovan’s team is 34-10 SU and 21-22-1 ATS at home this season.
VI’s David is bullish on the Spurs as short road faves in Game 3. David said, “I was very surprised when I saw the Thunder open as a 1 ½-point favorite for Game 3 but that line flipped in a hurry and it’s the right move in my opinion. It’s hard to ignore the fact that the Spurs went 12-0 off a loss in the regular season in meaningful games when the club put out a full squad. Another solid stat that could have you leaning to San Antonio is the record of the Thunder as underdogs. OKC did cash tickets in Game 2 of this series but it’s just 2-12 as an underdog this season. Also, it should be noted that road favorites have done very well in this year’s postseason, going 10-4 straight up and 8-6 against the spread.”
The ‘under’ is 46-43 overall for the Thunder, 27-17 in its home games.
The ‘over’ had hit in four consecutive games for the Thunder until Game 2 went ‘under’ the tally.
The ‘under’ is 49-37-2 overall for San Antonio, 25-17-1 in its road assignments.
The ‘under’ is on an 8-2 run in San Antonio’s last 10 games played at OKC.
ESPN will have the telecast at 9:35 p.m. Eastern.
NBA: Streaks, Tips, Notes
Sportspic.com
San Antonio at Oklahoma City
The Oklahoma City Thunder aren't dead yet. They evened their Western Conference semifinal with the San Antonio Spurs at 1-1 Monday night, giving Oklahoma City home-court advantage for the rest of the series starting with Game 3 Friday night at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
After getting blown out in Game 1, the Thunder took advantage of some uncharacteristically poor shooting by San Antonio in Game 2. Then OKC withstood a late run by the Spurs to win 98-97 as 8.5-point road dogs on the closing line, up from +7.5 at the open. Despite the victory, Oklahoma City remains a +$230 underdog to win this series and advance to the Western Final.
Both teams have their full rosters active for Game 3. Up to this point, the star of the show has been LaMarcus Aldridge, who scored 79 points for San Antonio over the first two games, and even sank both his 3-point attempts the only two he's made all year after shooting 0-for-16 during the regular season. Kevin Durant (44 points for Oklahoma City) and Russell Westbrook (43 points) have combined to shoot 2-of-13 from long range for the Thunder.