Eastern Conference Finals Game 1: Atlanta Slight Favorites

The sportsbooks are a bit inconsistent on the Game 1 matchup between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Atlanta Hawks.

Depending on what site you go to, the Hawks are either the favorites at home tonight with a point spread around -1 or it is a PICK.

The Cavs have made a pretty convincing case that they are a championship-quality team over the course of the playoff. They swept the Boston Celtics and while it took the Cavs six games to eliminate the Chicago Bulls, they won the last three games of that series.

The Cavs have been coping with some injury issues. Kyrie Irving has been on and off the court with a foot and knee injury throughout the playoffs. He sat for the last half of Game 6 against the Bulls but is listed probable in Game 1 after resting for five days. Kevin Love is out for the season after getting injured during the Boston series.

The Hawks were the most convincing playoff team of the season. They are top seeded in the conference with 60 regular season wins. It took six games, though, for Atlanta to eliminate the Brooklyn Nets and the Washington Wizards.

They will have home court tonight where they are 5-1 straight up over the course of the playoffs but have only covered the spread in two of those games. The Hawks do not have a “superstar” player, but the team does have six players who average double-digit scoring numbers.

The Hawks are 3-1 straight up in their season series with the Cavs.

The total is set at 197 points. The UNDER is 4-1 for the Cavs when they are on the road. In the season series, the total is 3-1 on the OVER.

The game starts at 6:30 p.m. ET. You can watch it on TNT.