NBA: Atlanta Hawks vs. Boston Celtics Preview, Odds, Prediction

This Tuesday night, the Atlanta Hawks visit the Boston Celtics at the TD Garden. This is one of the nationally televised contests tonight, which is why we decided to make a preview of it. The Hawks are still outside the playoff zone, sitting tenth in the East. As said in the previous few articles linked with the franchise from Georgia, they will need to make a radical change in order to reach sixth place, which is the last one to lead directly to the postseason. On the other hand, the Celtics don’t have to change anything because they found the perfect formula for their game.

Preview

Atlanta Hawks (29-31, +150) beat the Toronto Raptors in their latest game, which was the third victory for Nate McMillan’s unit in the previous four contests. It might be a sign that the Hawks are improving, but with all the inconsistency they display throughout the current campaign, we will wait a bit longer before making such a statement.

Trae and the boys demolished the Raptors, 127-100, mainly because of fantastic second and third periods during which they outscored the rivals 72-37. The Hawks were shooting 57.8% from the field, while on the other side, limiting the guests to only 40% of FG.

Trae was unstoppable, and the young point guard had 41 points, with 11 boards, missing seven of his 24 shots in this contest. Onyeka Okongwu was solid off the bench with 17 points, while Bogi, Huerter and Hunter scored 14 points each.

Boston Celtics (36-27, -200) had a stretch of nine consecutive wins, before losing two in the last four events. But overall, they are probably the top three team in the league when looking at the overall form. Four of their previous five events were on the road, and Ime Udoka’s unit closed this tough period with a loss in Indianapolis 128-107.

It was by far the worst performance of the Cs since the start of the calendar year, and the reason for that was a mild defense. Boston’s rise was caused due to a fantastic defensive effort with the Celtics almost always limiting the rivals to under 100 points when winning.

Against the Pacers, they allowed the hosts to shoot 52.2 from the field and to his 17 threes in 33 tries. Jayson Tatum was the best scorer among the Cs with 24 points, while Jaylen Brown had 23.

Head to Head Games

The Hawks and the Celtics met three times before this clash. In the opening two, the Hawks were better, and both of those events took place in Atlanta. The first saw Trae and the company winning 110-99, and the second ended 108-92. Meanwhile, the most recent contest was on February 13, with the Celtics winning 105-95.

Prediction

The Cs’ quality of play is at a much higher level than before, and in our opinion, they are a better team than the Hawks at this particular moment. The difference-maker here will be the defense because the Hawks can’t respond to the Cs’ intensity of play on that end of the floor. We’ve seen that two weeks ago when Boston easily routed Atlanta.

Pick: Boston Wins

 

Here is the preview for the Dallas Mavericks vs. LA Lakers game.