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Atlanta Hawks vs. Boston Celtics Game 3 Money Line Picks

by —April 21, 2016 in All Sports, NBA

Atlanta Hawks vs. Boston Celtics Game 3 Preview (Series: ATL 2-0)

Tip-Off: Friday, April 22nd 2016 at 8:00 PM ET
Venue: TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts
TV: ESPN2

The Atlanta Hawks won both games at Philips Arena. Atlanta opened the series with a 102-101 win, but there were some concerns, as the Hawks almost blew a 19-point lead. Game 2 wasn’t even close, the Hawks won 89-72 and the Celtics shot 31.8% (28-88) from the field and 17.9% (5-28) from deep.

Reports today (Wednesday) are saying Avery Bradley has been ruled out this weekend and will likely miss the remainder of this series. Marcus Smart started in the second game in place of Bradley and he shot 1-11 from the field. His ribs are banged up as well, but the Celtics need Smart’s defense to limit Jeff Teague.

Despite the loss of Bradley, the Celtics are favorites to win at home.

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Hawks at Celtics ML, O/U and point spread odds for game 3

Most of the early bets have come in on the Celtics to cover ATS and on the over. The Celtics spread is up a -0.5 point since opening and will likely keep moving up before tip-off if bettors keep hammering them.

Starting line-ups

Atlanta Hawks:

Bovada NBA Playoffs 2016

Boston Celtics:

Al Horford had a scare with his knee, but he’s fine moving forward. Dennis Schroder is questionable and if he doesn’t play, Kirk Hinrich will play any minutes Teague can’t handle. Bradley is definitely out for the Celtics, while Kelly Olynyk is questionable to play and Smart is probable as long as he practices Thursday.

Stats pack

Both teams play at a high pace, but defense has been winning. Boston have had an edge on the glass, but that hasn’t translated to wins. The problem has been the Celtics shooting (34.2% FG% this series).

Hawks vs. Celtics money line predictions

The loss of Bradley is huge. He may not be a superstar, but he averaged 15.2 PPG during the regular season and he averaged 1.9 3PM per game, which was second on the team behind Thomas. Boston have been shooting the basketball bad enough, but where are the points going to come from now?

Sullinger, Johnson and Crowder all need to produce more. The scary thing for the Celtics is that the Hawks have found their stroke from deep. They shot 19.2% (5-26) in game 1 and 37.9% (11-29) in game 2 on 3-pointers. Korver was 0-7 in game 1, but went 5-7 from beyond the arc in game 2.

Millsap was terrible in game 2 and that isn’t going to happen again. He shot 1-12 and had 4 points. He did have 4 blocks and 7 rebounds, but Millsap was expected to feast on the Celtics. If he comes around and produced like we know he can, Boston will stand zero chance at beating the Hawks in any game.

Boston was solid at home this season, going 28-13, while the Hawks were 21-20 on the road. If Bradley was in the LU, I’d definitely give the Celtics a better shot at winning. The depth that was supposed to shine come playoff time is no longer there. Rather than bet Atlanta at +3, the value is on the Hawks money line.

ScottThis article was written by Scott

Scott is one of the original degenerates working for MobileSportsBetting.com. Although he's most successful betting on NFL football and international soccer, he's also active in UFC and NHL hockey betting.


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