Atlanta Hawks vs Cleveland Cavaliers: Start time, where to watch, betting odds
Atlanta is back on the court tonight and they will be taking on the Cleveland Cavaliers on the road.
Both the Hawks and the Cavs have dreams of being one of the top teams in the Eastern Confernece, but they have both gotten off to slow starts this season. Cleveland has had to deal with injuries to members of its starting five, while Atlanta is without Jalen Johnson for the next few weeks and Johnson was a rising star.
When these two teams play each other, it is easy to highlight the backcourt matchup. Trae Young and Dejounte Murray against Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell. Mitchell has had some great moments this season already and is averaging 27 PPG. Young has shaken off a slow start and is starting to put it together.
Trae Young is starting to shoot the ball well
Young had a 38-point performance against the Pacers in a wild shootout, 43 against the Nets, 26 against the Wizards (a game in which he did not play much in the second half because of a blowout), and 33 in a loss to the Celtics last night. Young has still been an elite playmaker all season long, but now that his shot is starting to fall, it is going to make this already elite offense even harder to stop.
After the loss against Boston on Sunday, Hawks head coach Quin Snyder took time to talk about the way that Young has started to play on offense:
"His three-point shooting is a big part of his game. You know, he had a lot going on, he had a baby, but he has been really committed to running the team in a way that we are attacking collectively and he is beginning to really find the windows during the course of the game where he is recognizing when he is open and he is not hesitating and I think that is reflecting in his three-point shooting and if he is taking those shots and even if he is not making them, I have confidence in him that they are going to go in and it does a lot of other things on the court that set up other parts of his game that involve people and I think that is a big thing for him."
The defense is going to be key in this matchup. Both backcourts have starpower on offense, but both of them struggle to defend at a high-level, although Young has been better this season and Murray can be a good defender.
It is going to be an interesting matchup tonight in Cleveland.
Viewing and Betting Information
Tip-off time: 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Location: Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Cleveland, OH
Where to Watch: NBA League Pass, Bally Sports Southeast
Spread and Over/Under: The Hawks are currently underdogs tonight, as they are 4.5-point underdogs according to the latest odds from the SI Sportsbook and the over/under is set at 238.5.
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