vs. 
Atlanta Hawks (17-7, 5-5 road) vs. Cleveland Cavaliers (14-9, 8-4 home)
Stuff you should know:
TV: SportSouth
Radio: 92.9 The Game FM
Time: 7:00 EST
Where: Quicken Loans Arena
The Hawks have had it pretty easy to start the season, playing the easiest schedule in the League, but they let that easy slate go to waste winning 17 of their first 24 games coming into Cleveland tonight.
Both the Hawks and the Cavs are coming into tonight’s contest winner’s of their last games Monday night with the Hawks defeating the Chicago Bulls at home and the Cavs knocking off the Charlotte Hornets at home.
The Cavs appear to be starting to figure out how to play with another, at least on the offensive end of the floor, as they rank 4th in the Association in ORtg at 111.6 points per 100 possessions. Their offense has been good enough to get them on track in the win-loss column, but the team’s defensive deficiencies still remain as Cleveland’s DRtg ranks 19th in the League at 106.9 points per 100 possessions.
This will be the last Eastern Conference game for the Hawks before they head west to take on the Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks Wednesday and Saturday, respectively.
Matchup to Watch:
With Jeff Teague officially out for tonight’s contest, the matchup to closely monitor has to be Dennis Schroder against Kyrie Irving of the Cavs.
(Schroder’s per 36 numbers currently sit at 18-6-4, and with Teague out and Shelvin Mack in head coach Mike Budenholzer’s dog house seeing 36 minutes of the German is very plausible tonight.)
Winning a road contest in Cleveland was already going to be incredibly difficult, but without the Hawks’ best player through 24 games this season that hill just got, well, hillier.
The Hawks will have to look to expose the Cavs weak frontcourt with Paul Millsap and Al Horford having big nights against Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson and Anderson Varejao.
What Vegas is Saying:
Boveda has the Cavs at minus-7, which seems high, but with Teague out and Kevin Love officially active gamblers don’t like the Hawks chances tonight.
Still, I’ll take the points and say the Hawks lose but cover.
