Hey Teemo.
chiming in from Ax's thread. A lot of the cappers there were leaning under. Do you mind revealing why you feel the over?
I don't mind at all when asked like this. It's why we all log in here.
There are actually several reasons why I like the over. First off......take that rust crap and throw it in the trash. These guys haven't been sitting around eating Cheetoh's and playing video games. They know what's at stake here and everyone will be ready. What I think suffers most in long layoffs is defense. You can't defend against game speed offense during practice. However the size and height of the basketball rim never changes.....With that said, here are some numbers for you.
During the season, Cleveland avergaed 102 points at home and gave up 88. Atlanta averaged 96 points on the road and gave up 100. Now this drops off some in the playoffs with Cleveland at 93 - 78 and Atlanta at 87-88. Keep in mind though that all of the playoff games between the two teams were blowouts, with very little competative offense in the 4th quarter. Looking at the offensive numbers of 93 for Cleveland and 87 for Atlanta, there is 180 points right there. I would expect both of these teams to be even higher, based on how they are playing now and how they have matched up against each other during the regular season. Take the last three times these two have matched up and the scores were 198, 175 and 189, with the 198 being in Cleveland.
Cleveland I am sure will do their part in here. I think they get to 100 points. If Atlanta stays within the 11.5 spread, which I bet they would, then the over covers as well.
There's my two cents. Hope it helps.