Cavs vs Hawks: Previewing winner-takes-all Play-In Game

The Cleveland Cavaliers entered the season with incredibly low expectations, built those expectations into a frenzy of optimism, and now injuries have yanked them down to a narrow window of outcomes. After losing in Game 1 of the Play-In Tournament on Tuesday against the Brooklyn Nets, the Cavs play a lower-goes-home contest against the Atlanta Hawks Friday night.

If the Cavs win, they will be the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs and turn their attention to scraping a game or two away from the top-seeded Miami Heat, gaining valuable playoff experience for their young core in the process. If they lose, they drop into the final spot of the lottery and retain their first-round pick. While it may not seem that way given the height of this team’s play earlier in the season, either option at this point is a good outcome for this team.

Game 2 of the Play-In Tournament for the Cavs is against the Hawks on Friday night. Who is playing, what is the line and what should you expect?

The Atlanta Hawks land in the play-in game with a different roadmap of expectations, reaching the Eastern Conference Finals last season only to fall back to earth this year. They finished 43-39, one game back of the Cavs, and pummeled the Charlotte Hornets in the 9-10 game of the Play-In Tournament on Wednesday.

The game will be played in Cleveland as the Cavs host Atlanta for that final playoff berth. According to our partners over at WynnBet, the Hawks are favored by two points on the road. The over/under point total is 223.0.

These teams met 4 times in the regular season. The Cavs won the first meeting in the season’s first week, with Evan Mobley having his first statement game as the best rookie defender since Tim Duncan. The Hawks won the last three games, increasing the margin of victory from three to eight to finally 24 points in their final meeting two weeks ago.