NBA

Celtics vs. Hawks Betting Odds, Preview, and Predictions

The Boston Celtics (36-27, 30-31-2 ATS) are looking to bounce back on Tuesday night against the Atlanta Hawks (29-31, 27-33 ATS). Boston is coming off an ugly loss to the Indiana Pacers, while the Hawks are looking to win their second in a row after mauling the Toronto Raptors on Saturday.

According to the online sports book Betonline.ag, the Boston Celtics are 6.5-point favorites:

Point Spread: Boston Celtics -6.5
Over-Under: 227.5 points
Money line: Boston Celtics -250, Atlanta Hawks +210

Injury Report

Boston has no players listed on their injury report ahead of Tuesday night’s contest.

As for the Hawks, Lou Williams is listed as out and John Collins (foot) is listed as doubtful for the game.

Predicted Starting Lineups

Boston Celtics

G: Marcus Smart

G: Jaylen Brown

F: Jayson Tatum

F: Al Horford

C: Robert Williams

Atlanta Hawks

G: Trae Young

G: Kevin Huerter

F: De’Andre Hunter

F: Danilo Gallinari

C: Clint Capela

Boston Celtics Overview

The Celtics got absolutely clobbered in their last time out. They took on the underwhelming Pacers but got surprisingly stomped by their new-look roster led by Tyrese Haliburton and Buddy Hield. Al Horford took a rest day, but in the grand scheme of things, Indiana was just hitting all of their shots. As ugly of a loss as it was, most fans have chalked it up as just “one of those days.” In a tight playoff race, Boston shouldn’t be losing to below-500 teams, but sometimes bad losses happen.

Regardless, the loss marked only Boston’s second in the entire month of February, giving them a 9-2 record for the month. They are now fully immersed in the Eastern Conference playoff race, with the potential to climb up and earn home-court advantage, if they play their cards right. The game on Tuesday will mark their fourth and final tilt with Atlanta this season. Boston is 1-2 against the Hawks this year heading into the game.

Atlanta Hawks Overview

The Hawks are 5-5 in their last ten games and fully engrossed in a battle for play-in positioning. Currently, they sit at ninth in the East, just half a game above the struggling Charlotte Hornets and 2.5 games behind the Brooklyn Nets. At the same time, though, Atlanta is only two games ahead of the 11th-seeded Washington Wizards in 12th. The East is a tight race at the top, but the play-in race is also going to come down to the wire.

Trae Young, obviously, has been leading the charge for the Hawks this year. The two-time All-Star starter has been on fire lately, but as usual, Atlanta’s defense has been letting them down, ranking 20th in the league over the past ten games. Last time the Hawks took on the C’s, it was Bogdan Bogdanovic who led the charge, and the time before, it was Kevin Huerter.

Prediction

Interestingly enough, while slowing down Young may seem like the obvious answer, Boston’s defense is good enough where they probably don’t have to. As mentioned, Bogdanovic and Huerter have been the Celtics killers this year, not Young. So by spreading out the defense and trusting the game plan to work as well as it has for the past month, they should be able to slow down the majority of Atlanta’s scoring threats.

Secondly, Boston needs to move the basketball more. In the loss to Indiana, while the Celtics did have some tough luck with an apparent lid on the basket, they ended up settling late in the game. Jayson Tatum attempted 12 threes on the night (making only two of them), and the Celtics failed to get into the paint in the latter stages of the contest. No matter where they find themselves against the Hawks, they can’t let the offense descend into isolation threes and a lack of ball movement.

Finally, getting Horford back into the mix will be huge. Boston’s regular starting lineup is one of, if not the best in the league this season. Having all five of those guys on the court is enough to cause defensive nightmares for opposing squads, so getting them back out there against Atlanta will hopefully feel like a breath of fresh air.