Tonight’s Eastern Conference game between the Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse is the last of a back-to-back for the home team.
In my Hawks vs. Cavaliers predictions, I anticipate Darius Garland to continue his incredible play after taking Wednesday off. My NBA predictions for tonight’s action are listed below.
Prediction for Hawks vs. Cavaliers
My best option
Garland, Darius More than 21.5 points (bet365’s -115)
My evaluation
The Cleveland Cavaliers, who appear to be a serious title contender, are having a tremendous season thanks to Darius Garland. With an effective 42.5% 3-point shooting percentage, the guard is averaging 21.7 points per game. In addition, he provides 6.8 assists per game.
Even though the Vanderbilt product was given Wednesday off, Cleveland worked hard and defeated the drama-plagued Heat by 20 points. But Garland was in the thick of things before he was given a day off. Six of the 25-year-old’s last eight games have seen him hit the Over in points.
Five days earlier, Garland scored 39 points against a formidable Rockets team. With an average of 24.7 points in 13 games, January has been by far his best month of the season. He has also trounced the Atlanta Hawks this season, averaging 24 points per game in two encounters.
He’ll be really fresh heading into this competition, and I’m confident Garland will keep it up. Atlanta hasn’t demonstrated any ability to stop him from scoring offensively thus far this season, and he is playing confident basketball.
Even though Garland is playing well, Cleveland’s key man is still Donovan Mitchell. Although Mitchell is a versatile player, his 3-point shooting is perhaps his greatest offensive strength. This season, the guard averages 3.7 triples on 9.3 tries a game, draining 39.8% of his shots.
Spida has dominated the Over in five of his last seven games, despite only converting 3.2 treys per game in January. Mitchell was red-hot from deep in the victory over Miami, hitting 5-for-11. Earlier in the season, he went over once against Atlanta, but stayed under 3.5 in the other game.
It’s always possible that Mitchell will have a bad night from a distance. Nevertheless, after going hot against the Heat, he will feel confident, and it might continue tonight. In terms of opponent 3-point percentage, Atlanta is likewise in the lowest half of the NBA.
Yes, Cleveland’s great pair is highlighted in my first two picks, but the Hawks have surprised everyone by playing well versus Cleveland recently. As underdogs, they have defeated the Eastern Conference leaders three times in a row.
Given that the Hawks are now in the middle of a six-game losing streak, I won’t predict that they will win again. That is probably a major factor in the visitors’ 10.5-point underdog status tonight. But in their last three encounters, Atlanta has outscored Cleveland by an average of 12 points.
I could definitely see the Hawks covering from that alone. This season, Quin Snyder’s team is 10-8 as an ATS road underdog.
How to watch the Cavaliers vs. Hawks game
Location: Cleveland, OH’s Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse
Date: Thursday, January 30, 2025
TV TNT tip-off time: 7:00 p.m. ET
