The Cleveland Cavaliers defeated Washington in six games in the first round and haven't played since Friday. The Cavs covered the spread in four of the six contests, with the ‘over/under’ split evenly. However, the Cavs managed to score 100 points or more three times during the series.

The Celtics had a league-best 66-16 SU regular-season record, with just six of those losses occurring at home. They outscored opponents at home by an average of 12.5 points. However, they bettered that against Atlanta, topping the Hawks by an average of 25.3 points in four playoff victories.

Top-seeded Boston and the fourth-seeded Cavaliers split their four-game regular-season series, with no team winning on the road. The two games in Boston dipped ‘under’ the closing total, with the Celtics failing to cover the spread on each occasion.

The two outings in Cleveland jumped ‘over’ the closing total, with each team covering the spread once. Therefore, the Cavs were 3-1 ATS versus the Celts during the regular season.

Cleveland’s LeBron James averaged 32.3 points per game in three contests, including a Celtics opponent regular-season high 38 points during Cleveland's 109-104 overtime win Nov. 27. James also averaged 9.7 assists and seven rebounds against the Celts.

James Posey and Sam Cassell were two of the top contributors off the Celtics bench during the Atlanta series, along with big men Leon Powe and PJ Brown. Posey averaged 7.4 points and 4.3 rebounds per game off the pine.

Cleveland leaned heavy on its bench against the Wizards in the first round, with Daniel Gibson, Joe Smith, and Anderson Varejao all averaging better than 18 minutes per game. Gibson averaged 11.8 points per game (third on the team) against Washington, while Smith and Varejao combined to average more than 10 boards per contest.

Overall, the Cavs' bench averaged 28.4 points per game during the first round of the playoffs, while the Celtics' bench averaged 25.2 points per contest.

Cleveland is 41-47 ATS overall, 24-20 ATS on the road and 20-20 ATS as an underdog. Boston is 56-31 ATS overall, 29-15 ATS at home and 46-27 ATS as a favorite.

Though the Cavaliers are 49-39 SU through their first 88 games this season, they are averaging and allowing the same number of points per game (96). In addition, the Cavs are getting outscored on the road by an average of 99-95. The ‘over’ is 23-20 through Cleveland’s first 43 road contests.

Conversely, the Celtics are now 70-19 SU through their first 89 outings and are outscoring the opposition by 10 points per game (100-90). The difference is even more pronounced at home where Celts are outscoring the opposition by a whopping 14 points per game (101-87). The ‘under’ is 26-17 in Boston’s home games.

May 6, 2008