NBA Betting – Atlanta Hawks at Oklahoma City Thunder

Atlanta Hawks (-1, 210 o/u) at Oklahoma City Thunder

The Atlanta Hawks (53-15, 23-11 away) didn’t look like the team with the best record in the NBA on Wednesday, getting dominated 114-95 in their visit to Golden State.

But Atlanta will have a chance to redeem itself tonight when they visit the Oklahoma City Thunder (38-30, 24-9 home) at Chesapeake Energy Arena (8:00 PM Eastern).

After starting the season 7-6, the Hawks have posted a league-best 46-8 record since. Even though the loss to the Warriors dropped Atlanta just below Golden State for the best record in the league, the team still has a ten-game lead over second-place Cleveland in the Eastern Conference.

Of course, Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer isn’t letting his team rest on its laurels. He was hoping for a statement game against Golden State, which his team failed to produce. (Not only did the Hawks fail to get the win, but they were also decimated against the spread despite getting 6.5 points.)

“Any time you’re playing teams with the better records in the league, you’re going to be tested, you’re going to be challenged,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “And you kind of want to rise to that. You want to meet that test. Tonight wasn’t our best showing.”

Tonight, the Hawks will face another tough Western Conference opponent in Oklahoma City. The Thunder have won three of their last four games, including a 122-118 shootout over the Boston Celtics in their last outing on Wednesday. Point guard Russell Westbrook kept up his MVP-caliber play in the absence of Kevin Durant, scoring 36 points and adding ten dimes.

“The first two-quarters, they imposed their will on us,” Westbrook said, whose team trailed by four at the break. “It was aggressive. We were the ones getting pushed around. Coming out of halftime, I was just trying to change the pace, bring energy, on both sides of the basketball.”

The Thunder currently have a one-game lead on New Orleans for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

On the injury front, Durant remains sidelined for the Thunder with a foot injury, while forward Serge Ibaka is out with a knee injury. Kyle Korver will miss tonight’s game for the Hawks (broken nose).

Despite Westbrook’s impressive play of late, Atlanta is currently a one-point road favorite for tonight’s game. Looking at the trends, Oklahoma City has won seven of the last ten against Atlanta, but the Hawks have covered the spread in the last two.  Three of the last four have also stayed under the total (and tonight’s o/u is at a high 210).

(Photo credit: Keith Allison [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)