Atlanta Hawks vs Boston Celtics betting tips and predictions for Friday’s NBA Playoffs game on ESPN. Boston looks to take full control of their series against Atlanta as they try to go up 3-0 with the series shifting to State Farm Arena for the next 2 games. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Atlanta Hawks
Not much has gone Atlanta’s way in the first 2 games of this series as they got beat each time by double-digits. Best player Trae Young is having a really poor series by his standards so far averaging just 20 points per game on 35% efficiency from the field and a pedestrian 23% from downtown.
That will need to improve drastically if Atlanta wants to make this a series, Young averaged 31 points per game vs the Celtics during the regular season so it’s unclear why he hasn’t been able to get it going. The Hawks are currently on a 7-game losing streak in head-to-head meetings, but not only that, they’ve also not covered the spread in each of those 7 losses. In their last 10 home games vs the Celtics they’ve recorded just 3 wins.
Boston Celtics
After seeing the 76ers go up 3-0 in their series, the Celtics are expected to do the same tonight as those two teams are on collision course to meet in the East semi-finals. It’s been smooth sailing for Boston so far in the series, despite Jaylen Brown dealing with a cut on his shooting hand. Him and Jayson Tatum have delivered big performances in the first 2 games, but the most impressive aspect of it all has been their defense.
The Hawks shot just 38% and 42% in the 2 meetings so far, if they are able to sustain that energy moving forward this might even end up in a sweep. The Celtics are 4-point favorites for Game 3, they’ve covered the spread in their last 6 games and are 10-1 SU in their last 11 games played in the month of April.
It’s hard not to go with the Celtics here, even if Atlanta is a much better team at home than on the road. This is a must win for Young and co., if they go down 3-0 it’s all over. I just don’t see how they turn things around so quickly, give me the Celtics to cover on the road.
Atlanta Hawks vs Boston Celtics Predictions & Odds
The under cashed in both games so far in this series, but I have a feeling tonight’s game will be much different. Primarily because of the way the Hawks play at State Farm Arena compared to their road games. Their pace goes up, their shot attempts are a lot higher and their efficiency is much better. However, they still have to prove all that against this Celtics defense which ranks in the top 3 in efficiency this season.
Boston also likes to turn it up when playing away from home, they finished the regular season with a run of 5 overs in their last 6 road games, and if Atlanta comes out firing here they’ll know how to respond. These two teams have averaged 220.9 points per game in the last 10 meetings, the projected total is slightly higher than that, but as we saw in the Suns vs Clippers game last night, when one team speeds up the points production goes up significantly. I’ll take my chances with the over in this one.
