The Atlanta Hawks host the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET at State Farm Arena in a matchup of Eastern Conference contenders. The Cavaliers enter at 3-1 after reaching the Eastern Conference finals last season, while the Hawks are 2-3 coming off a loss to Miami.
The teams split their four meetings last season with each winning at home. Atlanta is a 1.5-point favorite with an over/under of 237.5 points. A projection model that simulates each game 10,000 times leans toward the over, projecting a combined 240 points. The model also indicates one side of the spread hits nearly 60% of the time.
Atlanta ranks fifth in the NBA in scoring offense at 120.2 points per game, while Cleveland is seventh at 119.8 points per game. The model has returned a profit of nearly $19,000 for $100 players on top-rated NBA picks since 2018 and is on a 26-10 run on spread picks dating to last season.
