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Cavaliers host Hawks on Monday
By: Zach Cohen - StatFox
Published: 4/11/2016  at  11:43:00 AM
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ATLANTA HAWKS (48-32)

at CLEVELAND CAVALIERS (56-24)

Tip-off: Monday, 7:05 p.m. ET
Line: San Antonio -5.5

The Cavaliers will be looking to clinch the top spot in the Eastern Conference with a victory over the Hawks on Monday.

Atlanta is playing extremely well heading into the postseason, winning three straight games and covering in each of the past two. The Hawks most recently faced the Celtics as 5.5-point home favorites on Saturday and they won that game 118-107. They still have to battle for their positioning in the Eastern Conference playoffs, so these next two games are extremely important for them. The Cavaliers are in the same boat, as they are still looking to earn the top seed in the Eastern Conference. A win over Chicago on Saturday would have done the trick, but the team lost 105-102 as a seven-point road favorite in that one. The Cavaliers must now win one of these next two, but it won’t be easy against the Hawks. Cleveland has, however, beaten Atlanta in six straight games. The Cavaliers also happen to be 5-1 ATS in those contests. One thing worth noting is that the Hawks are 33-17 ATS off a home win by 10 points or more over the past three seasons. SG Iman Shumpert (Knee) and PG Mo Williams (Knee) are both listed as questionable for Cleveland in this one.

The Hawks are rolling heading into the postseason and that is something that will be extremely important for this team. They took their foot off the pedal heading into the playoffs last year and it seemingly messed with their chemistry. One guy that is playing well for the Hawks recently is PF Paul Millsap (17.3 PPG, 9.0 RPG, 3.3 APG, 1.8 SPG, 1.7 BPG). Millsap had 31 points, 16 rebounds, five blocks and two steals in 39 minutes of action against Boston. He’s going to need to win his matchup with Kevin Love in this game or it’ll be tough for Atlanta to win. PG Jeff Teague (15.6 PPG, 5.9 APG, 1.2 SPG) has also been on fire for Atlanta lately. Over the past five games, Teague is averaging 22.6 PPG, 5.2 APG and 1.0 SPG for the Hawks. He’s shooting 50.0% from the field and from the outside in those contests and he’ll need to play well against Kyrie Irving in this one. That should be no problem for him, as he had 28 points and nine assists the last time these teams met. C Al Horford (15.1 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 3.2 APG, 1.5 BPG) has struggled against the Cavaliers this season, averaging just 12.0 PPG on 31.0% shooting in two meetings with the team. He should, however, be able to turn it around and perform at a high level in this one. Cleveland is weak at the center spot and Horford really should be a guy that the Hawks can go to often in this matchup.

The Cavaliers are one win away from giving themselves a major advantage throughout the playoffs and SF LeBron James (25.1 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 6.8 APG, 1.4 SPG) is going to need to come through for his team on Monday. James was on fire against Chicago, finishing the game with 33 points on 13-for-17 shooting from the field and 4-for-5 shooting from the outside. If he is to somehow shoot that well again then it’s very unlikely that Cleveland will lose this one. The Cavaliers ran into a Bulls team that was fighting for its season on Saturday and ended up falling just short. PG Kyrie Irving (19.3 PPG, 4.7 APG, 1.0 SPG) is going to need to play better for Cleveland against Atlanta this time around. He had 20 points the last time these teams met, but he was a miserable 5-for-23 from the floor. The Cavaliers need him to be a bit more efficient on Monday. PF Kevin Love (16.1 PPG, 9.8 RPG) has been playing his best basketball of the season for Cleveland recently. He’s averaging 20.0 PPG and 8.4 RPG over the past five contests and the Cavaliers really need him to keep it up heading into the postseason.


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