NBA Playoff Betting – (5) Wizards at (1) Hawks (Game 5)

Washington Wizards at Atlanta Hawks (-8, 199.5 o/U)

On Monday, the Atlanta Hawks (60-22, 35-6 Home) gained back home court advantage from the Washington Wizards (46-36, 17-24 Away) with a 106-101 road win. Tonight, with the series knotted at two, the No. 1 seed in the East will look to win a crucial game 5 at home (8:00 PM Eastern at Philips Arena).

The Hawks, who have struggled offensively throughout the playoffs, managed to shoot a series-high 47.1-percent from the field in the win. Power forward Paul Millsap credited the squad’s more aggressive style: “We attack,”  Millsap told the team’s official website. “We stay aggressive. We get to the basket. We kick it out and knock down 3-point shots. That’s how we played [in Game 4].”

The Wizard, meanwhile, were missing point guard John Wall for the third straight game. Wall is sidelined with a fractured left hand and the squad is just 1-2 in his absence (versus 5-0 with the point guard on the floor).

The Wizards see reason to be confident despite the setback.

“We were still right there and we didn’t even play great, so you can be frustrated with [losing] but at the same time it’s 2-2,” guard Bradley Beal said to the press. “It’s the first to get two wins now.”

Looking at the trends, the Hawks are 1-4-1 ATS in their last six following an SU win and 2-5 ATS in their last seven playoff games as an underdog of 5.0-10.5 points.  The Wizards, on the other hand, are 4-1 ATS in their last five as an underdog of 5.0-10.5 points and 8-2-1 ATS in their last 11 games, overall. Washington and the octet of points looks like the play.

Pick: Wizards (+8).

(Photo credit: Keith Allison (Flickr: Bradley Beal, John Wall) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)