NBA Playoff Betting – (1) Hawks at (8) Nets (Game 4)
Atlanta Hawks (-4, 195.5 o/u) at Brooklyn Nets
The Brooklyn Nets (1-2, 1-0 home) surprised the Atlanta Hawks (2-1, 0-1 away), the top seed in the Eastern Conference, in Game 3, downing their cold-shooting opponents 91-83. Tonight, Brook Lopez and company will look to tie their best-of-seven at two games apiece when they host the Hawks again at the Barclays Center (7:00 PM Eastern).
Despite handily winning the first two games at home, the Hawks haven’t been pleased with any of the first three games, watching their offensive numbers go into a tailspin versus the regular season.
“Even the two games that we won, I felt like we didn’t shoot the best as a team,” Hawks forward Al Horford said. “We need to figure out ways offensively to get easier baskets.”
Atlanta, which averaged over 102 points per game in the regular season, has yet to hit triple-digits in the playoffs.
The Nets, meanwhile, have carried the urgency with which they finished the regular season (where they won seven of their final nine games) into the playoffs.
The play of Brooklyn’s frontcourt was key in the Game 3 win. Lopez led the team with 22 points and 13 rebounds, while Thaddeus Young – who was acquired from Minnesota at the trade deadline – played one of his best games in a Nets uniform, scoring 18 points and pulling down 11 boards.
“This is a big boys’ game,” Young told the Nets’ official website after the game. “You have to be able to withstand runs and make your presence felt on the court. You have to impose your will on the game the whole time. We did a good job of just imposing our will on the game.”
In the trends, the Nets have covered the spread in all three games in the series.
With Atlanta averaging over 102 PPG for 82 games this year, and Brooklyn giving up just over 100, look for tonight’s game to surpass the relatively low o/u (195.5).
(Photo credit: Keith Allison (Flickr: Deron Williams) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
