While Brooklyn Nets and Atlanta Hawks don’t have the playoffs in their minds, they will look to translate good games into wins and build a winning culture. The Nets owe their first round pick, and the Hawks haven’t missed the postseason in 10 years. Every win along the way can help, especially those you can get.
Hawks at Nets
Spread: Brooklyn -3 (-110) at BetDSI Sportsbook
Total: o/u 218 (-110)
Hawks hit a wall in second half against Hornets, lose 91-109
After the initial win in Dallas, the Hawks played with confidence in the first half of the game in Charlotte, and for this period, it looked like they’ll take another road win. They forced a lot of turnovers and were able to get into transition and pick lots of easy points. They even led 40-20 at the start of second quarter, a lead they should have guaranteed them at least a chance in closing minutes.
With a risk to sound like a general after a battle, I wasn’t impressed. The Hawks got the lead by playing some sort of chaotic, gung-ho offense with athletic players taking turns to drive the ball, without much ball movement. On the other side, they were allowed plenty of contact as the refs oblivious to pretty blatant fouling. It’s one thing to play quickly when the opportunity presents itself, and another thing to run at all cost. The Hawks helped their opponents get back into the game by not knowing how to control the game and rushed into too many bad possessions. Then all hell broke loose. Up 9, the Hawks were held scoreless for 6 minutes in the 3 quarter, while giving up 24 straight points. The Hawks missed some gimmies and the outside shot was not there even during the good half. They finished connecting on only 7-of-30 three-point attempts, and shot below 38 percent for the game. Schroder was good, Prince was active in the offensive end, but the bench support had one missing this time. This isn’t all that surprising, as the second unit does seem as a group of randomly acquired pieces.
The Hawks avoided any new injuries and should play with similar rotation in Brooklyn. Young center Collins will probably get an extended number of minutes, perhaps even at the four spot, as he wouldn’t play much due to foul trouble, invoked by his inexperience and wiry frame while guarding Howard. Other youngs of Hawks will probably play a bit better game versus equally green Nets.
Place: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York
Date/Time: Sunday, October 22th, 2017. 3:30 PM ET
TV Coverage: YES, Fox Sports Southeast
The Nets win without Lin, continue to push the ball
If losing the opener wasn’t enough, the Nets fans got the bad news in between two games. Their starting point guard, Jeremy Lin, the same one who had not played half of last season, would likely miss entire 2017/18 season due to a new injury. If some fans felt deflated, the Nets players certainly have not. Russell was promptly shifted back to his more natural point guard position, and coach Atkinson just went deeper to the bench, using almost every player he has, in order to keep the tempo high and the points flowing.
As the opposition was the Magic, who are allergic to playing defense, it was raining and pouring on both sides. In the end, Nets won with a score of 126-121. Nine Nets players scored between 9 and 17 points, and no player played more than 28 minutes, so if you have got the impression that it’s quite irrelevant who’s playing, I’m with you. Carroll and Booker were better than the others, and Russell didn’t handle the playmaking all that well. Mozgov is way too slow for this pace, so it’s a matter of time until he’s put to the end of the bench (or in a suit). Let’s just not talk about defense, as there was nothing resembling it within a mile of Barclays on Thursday night.
Despite my initial thinking, that the Nets will become a better defensive team, and wouldn’t score as much, this seems to be their ‘system’. Green lights, high speed, and no defense, so they’ll have a chance when the shots are falling and the refs call everything like against the Magic. If the rims become smaller, they’ll simply get blown out. Either could happen against the Hawks, but there’s no reason to believe the Nets will change their approach for this game.
Atlanta Hawks at Brooklyn Nets Game Trends & Prediction
In the end, the Hawks lost by a large margin, much larger than the majority of the game looked like. Still, in counts as an ATS loss, so they dropped to a 1-1 record for the season. The 6-minute drought and the blowout have also caused totals to stay under the projected line, so the Hawks are now 1-1 on the over/under record as well.
After 271 points in the opener against Indiana, the Nets next game showed for ‘only’ 247, but as long as they can manage to reach such height, no over will be ever in doubt. 2-0 so far this season, and the books are scrambling to catch up. The win over Magic was also enough to cover the spread, so they stand on par in that department.
A unique ranking system – AdmiRank helps you understand how good NBA teams are on a scale to 100. It’s obvious that these rivals are sorted into the weaker teams in the league, but the .500 results do put them into a tiny uptrend. Hawks have shown a bit more, and the model doesn’t take Lin’s injury into the number just yet.
Before I even get to the reasoning about this game and the potential bets, let me draw your attention to the fact that this game is being played early, a rather common practice for Brooklyn Sunday games. Early tip-offs are known to produce a couple of points less on average, mostly due to players’ biorhythm being set otherwise.
Two teams have split season series last season. Interestingly, they played three games in March and April, and the two games that the Nets won have been played at the very end of the last season. There was no over played in the last two seasons, as the teams have failed to top the bookmakers’ expectations eight consecutive times. All of the lines from last season were set between 215 and 220. This trend has been followed for this game as well – the bookmakers have opened with a line of 218 and you should immediately go and get the over, despite the early tip-off. The Nets have been set as a 3-point favorite, which goes well with my estimation of two teams, which is close. However, there’s some value on the Hawks, as I’d rather have it at BRK -2, so if you get to see a price increase, you could bet the Hawks as well.
My Pick: (no spread bet unless you can get Atlanta +4 (-110))
Total: over 218 points (-110)
