{"id":5920,"date":"2008-12-17T16:27:59","date_gmt":"2008-12-17T21:27:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.capperspicks.com\/blog\/?p=5920"},"modified":"2008-12-17T16:27:59","modified_gmt":"2008-12-17T21:27:59","slug":"celtics-hawks-free-pick-171208","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/nba\/celtics-hawks-free-pick-171208\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Betting – Celtics vs. Hawks (Dec. 17)"},"content":{"rendered":"

NBA Playoff Rematch Celtics @ Hawks<\/h2>\n

The Boston Celtics (23-2 SU, 14-11 ATS, 11-13-1 O\/U) may be in the midst of a thrilling 15-game winning streak in the BetUS Sportsbook, but that mark will be put to the test tonight by a team that has been waiting to play the Celtics at home all season \u2013 the rejuvenated Atlanta Hawks (15-9 SU, 13-11 ATS, 9-13-2 O\/U). \u00a0 <\/p>\n

Atlanta will host Boston tonight at Philips Arena, suddenly one of the toughest places to play in the entire league, following last season\u2019s thrilling first round playoff series between the two teams.<\/p>\n

The Hawks have won nine of their first ten home games this season, including seven straight coming into tonight\u2019s contest.<\/p>\n

Atlanta is currently riding a three-game winning streak and is coming off a close, 83-79 home win over the Charlotte Bobcats just two nights after snapping the Cleveland Cavalier\u2019s 11-game winning streak with a 97-92 victory.<\/p>\n

The Hawks got 28 points from Joe Johnson on 11-for-18 shooting, to narrowly beat the revamped Bobcats despite failing to cover the spread for BetUS NBA sports betting backers.<\/p>\n

“If we continue to take care of our home court, we can put ourselves in good position to get ahead of some of the teams in our division,” said Johnson. “It’s a big advantage (playing at home), especially when the crowd is up to it.”<\/p>\n

Fan support should not be a problem tonight as the Hawks and their fans rose to new heights in last season\u2019s first round playoff series. Following a Hawks win in Game 6, perennial all-star power forward Kevin Garnett was prompted to say, “I’ve played 13 years, and I’ve been here every year for 13 years. This is the first time I’ve seen this atmosphere like this (in Atlanta).”<\/p>\n

Atlanta will likely want to extract some revenge for this season\u2019s loss to Boston back on Nov. 2 when Paul Pierce nailed a game-winning fade-away jump shot as time expired to lift the Celtics to a 103-102 victory.<\/p>\n

Boston\u2019s most recent victory was a 100-91 win over the Utah Jazz on Monday, though they failed to cover the spread for NBA betting backers as a 9.5-point home favorite just as I predicted in the BetUS Locker Room.<\/p>\n

The Celtics got a career-high 25 points, along with nine rebounds and eight assists from blossoming point guard Rajon Rondo and 19 points and 10 rebounds from Garnett.<\/p>\n

Pierce injured his left knee late in the win but should be a go for tonight.<\/p>\n

“It should be all right,” Pierce said. “I put a little weight on it. It didn’t go back that far, so it should be all right.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Here is a look at tonight\u2019s key trends, followed by my in-depth analysis and NBA Free Pick.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Boston is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
\nBoston is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games on the road
\nThe total has gone OVER in 5 of Boston’s last 6 games when playing Atlanta
\nThe total has gone OVER in 5 of Boston’s last 6 games when playing on the road against Atlanta
\nAtlanta is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
\nThe total has gone UNDER in 6 of Atlanta’s last 7 games
\nThe total has gone OVER in 5 of Atlanta’s last 6 games when playing Boston
\nAtlanta is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games when playing at home against Boston<\/p>\n

NBA Odds<\/strong><\/p>\n

Boston Celtics -4\u00bd Points
\nAtlanta Hawks +4\u00bd Points<\/p>\n

Over 186 -110
\nUnder 186 -110<\/p>\n

Analysis:<\/strong> While I love the way the Celtics are playing and know they are going to bring their collective \u2018A\u2019 game tonight, I like the Atlanta Hawks to cover the spread by likely winning outright at home against the Celtics.<\/p>\n

This game is going down to the wire NBA sports betting backers \u2013 and I like the high-flying Hawks to extract some revenge on the C\u2019s tonight.<\/p>\n

NBA Free Picks: Atlanta +4\u00bd Points\/Under 186 Total Points<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Free pick and preview plus NBA betting odds and basketball lines for the matchup featuring the Boston Celtics and the Atlanta Hawks…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[2762,1979,3938,3939,1975,5011,6825,5344,5345,4045,5343,744,4044,3942,747,3925],"class_list":["post-5920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nba","tag-atlanta-hawks","tag-basketball-betting","tag-basketball-odds","tag-bet-on-basketball","tag-bet-on-nba","tag-boston-celtics","tag-boston-celtics-vs-atlanta-hawks","tag-celtics-betting-trends","tag-celtics-vs-hawks","tag-free-nba-picks","tag-hawks-betting-trends","tag-nba-betting","tag-nba-handicappers","tag-nba-handicapping","tag-nba-lines","tag-nba-predictions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5920"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5920\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5924,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5920\/revisions\/5924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}