After another successful year on the NBA’s Play-In Tournament, the playoffs are in full swing all day on Saturday for one of the best days of the year for basketball.
In an Eastern Conference showdown, the Atlanta Hawks will be on the road to take on the Boston Celtics in the series opener Saturday afternoon.
The Hawks, who had the most impressive win in the play-in tournament over the Heat, will get a chance to face off against one of the title favorites in the Celtics.
Atlanta absolutely decimated Miami for the entire game, save for a run by the Heat in the third quarter. They have all of the talent in the world and certainly all of the confidence to go with it too.
Dejounte Murray joining with Trae Young has not been the most seamless transition, but it certainly has some very noticeable highs when it works.
Ahead of this opening matchup, the Celtics are favored on their home court over the Hawks at -9.
Running on their rebounding
Against Miami, it was as if the Heat had no chance to secure any sort of rebound against the Hawks, as Atlanta happily nearly doubled their totals rebounds for the game.
In a matchup against the Celtics, the Hawks are not going to have as much of a luxury and a number of the Celtics forwards and guards also rebound well.
Trae Young is going to have his work cut out for him going against the guard trio of Marcus Smart, Derrick White, and Malcolm Brogdon.
Young was deferring for much of the matchup against the Heat, and his teammates responded. For the sake of the Hawks, hopefully that will stay true on Saturday.
Proving they are one of the surefire title favorites
After nearly winning last year, the Celtics are back on a mission to return to the NBA Finals and win the whole thing.
Retribution and reputation are at stake, and this opening home game against the Hawks is going to be a no-nonsense type of matchup. Boston will set the tone early in this game.
For most of the team, they were a part of the heartbreak of last season, and that adds fuel to the fire in a way that you aren’t going to see too often in the NBA.
From top to bottom the Celtics have a far deeper roster and their crowd will be going ballistic.
Hawks @ Celtics Betting Prediction
For the sake of the Hawks in this opener, no one really believes in them to have a chance in this game.
Nearly every expert is going to roll with the Celtics, as all of the signs point towards them being healthy and ready to roll on a new mission for 16 wins.
The spread is larger than you might like, but there isn’t any reason to doubt Boston in a home opener for game one of this series. Take the Celtics to win at home at -9.
100% up to $3,000 Bonus
Bovada is our most recommended ONLINE CASINO and POKER ROOM for US players with excellent deposit options. Get your 100% signup bonus today.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.