NBA Free Premium Play 12/28: Atlanta Hawks @ Cleveland Cavaliers

Atlanta  at Cleveland

NBA - 807 Atlanta Hawks @ 808 Cleveland Cavaliers Projected Line: Atlanta by 2 points Both teams are on poor spots, as Atlanta is coming from a double overtime against Detroit, with four players being on the court for over 40 minutes and without Devin Harris and Ivan Johnson, their roster depth isn't that big right now. On the other hand, Cleveland is coming from a road win at Washington, but they had some plane issues on their travel back home. I believe the Cavaliers are a tough matchup for the Hawks and the truth is that they actually defeated them in Atlanta earlier on the season. Cleveland's offense wasn't great against the Wizards, with 21% volume of isolation plays. Their pick and roll ball handler plays didn't work well, but Kyrie Irving has a good matchup tonight against Jeff Teague, who has been struggling defensively this season. Atlanta is #24 on 3pts defense, but they have been regressing even more lately. After watching Will Bynum dominating them, the very interesting Cavs backcourt will have a good matchup tonight. On the other hand, the key area on the Hawks offense will be their transitions, where they are #5 in the league with 1.22 PPP and #4 on fast break points per game with 17.2 ppg. Atlanta's post up game is poor and that's good news for Cleveland's also poor post up defense. Atlanta's spot up game has been regressing lately as well, so they won't have an edge on transitions, as Cleveland has been struggling on their transition defense this season by being #26 while allowing 1.20 PPP and #23 on fast break points allowed per game with 14.4 ppg. However, the Cavaliers are improving on this area lately and looking at the fact that they were a top transition defense team last season and with a similar lineup, I believe they will keep improving on this area. I expect this game to be a close game, as Kyrie Irving will have a good matchup against Atlanta's poor backcourt defense. With Jeff Teague, Louis Williams and Kyle Korver starting on the backcourt, there are no defensive miracles and that's why Philadelphia and Golden State have recently exposed these defensive issues lately. Atlanta's finesse frontcourt with Al Horford and Josh Smith isn't a terrible matchup for the athletic Cavaliers frontcourt that only struggles when they get physically bullied by powerful frontcourts, something that isn't the case. Therefore, I'll be taking the home dogs Cavaliers tonight. Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 808 Cleveland Cavaliers (+5) @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker