NBA Betting Picks for Today: Atlanta Hawks at Cleveland Cavaliers
The Atlanta Hawks are 2-point favorites and the point total is 234.5 at online sports betting sites. Here’s a look at NBA odds and NBA betting picks for today, Wednesday, February 12, 2020.
NBA Betting Picks for Today: Hawks at Cavaliers
The great part about sports in this day and age is that even when you have a game between two of the worst teams in the sport, sports betting, which is expanding in the U.S., can still make a bad game worth watching.
Take tonight’s matchup between the Atlanta Hawks vs. Cleveland Cavaliers, for instance. Both teams have been dominated throughout the season while routinely giving up a lot of points to their opponents. Plenty of points should be scored tonight, but I’m expecting a competitive high-scoring affair. What more can you ask for from two non-playoff teams?
The Cavs have a bit of a different look after the trade deadline. I’m not really sure if their questionable trade for Andre Drummond made them any better. Regardless, Drummond is in Cleveland for better or worse.
The Drummond expirement got off to a rough start in his first game with the team just a few days ago. Cleveland was blown out and the game was pretty much over at halftime. But does that present us NBA bettors an opportunity to take advantage of? The public often let’s recency bias take over. Now, the Hawks are 2-point road favorites to a fully healthy Cleveland Cavaliers squad, and a roster that outsizes that of the Hawks’.
The Cavs are currently sitting dead last in the Eastern Conference with a record of 13-40 and are 1-9 in their last 10. Looking at Cleveland’s numbers against the spread this season, they have been terrible going 22-30-1 ATS, which ranks third-to-last in the NBA. But where they have been terrible has been at home. On the year, the Cavs are 6-22 straight up and 9-18-1 ATS at home. As a road dog, they’re 9-11-1 ATS. They have been bad both on the offensive and defensive end this season, ranking 29th in defensive efficiency and 24th in offensive efficiency.
The Hawks are currently sitting 14th in the Eastern Conference with a record of 15-40 and are 4-6 in their last 10 games. Much like the Cavs at home, the Hawks are similarly bad on the road, going a league-worst 6-23 straight up and 10-19 ATS, including 0-2 ATS as a road favorite. The Hawks are also just as bad on both ends of the floor as the Cavs ranking 25th in offensive efficiency and 28th in defensive efficiency.
NBA Betting Picks: Cleveland Cavaliers +2
We might have two terrible teams, but I like this game a lot. I suspect that one of these teams is actually in a much better position than the other. The Cavs match up decently well against the Hawks, and although the Cavs are terrible at home, the Hawks are even worse on the road. We are getting a 2-point home dog in a game where the two teams should be evenly matched, in my view. The Hawks are playing their third game in four days and the first game of this stretch was a double OT game where both Trae Young and Collins played over 40 minutes. The Cavs on the other hand are playing just their second game in the last week.
So, just to check things off the list: the Cavs are at home; they’re getting points; they are better rested; and people are likely falling victim to recency bias against them due to their first game with Drummond. Currently, over 80% of the total bets are on the Hawks, per Vegasinsider, yet the line has hardley budged.
- Risking 1.05 unit to win 1 unit on Cavs +2 (-105)
Get these odds at PointsBet.
NBA 2019-2020 Betting Record: 9-8-1 (-.5 units)
Hawks at Cavaliers NBA Player Props
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Image Credit: USA Today Sports Images