Free NBA Pick: Hawks vs. Lakers NBA Odds
Looking for Atlanta Hawks vs. Los Angeles Lakers free NBA picks & NBA odds? NBA betting sees the Hawks taking on the Lakers on Friday, January 7th, 2022 at the Crypto.com Arena. Cappers Picks provides complimentary expert handicapping picks on all NBA basketball matchups so stay tuned for more FREE daily NBA hoops predictions like this Hawks Lakers matchup.
2022 NBA Handicapping
(17-20) Atlanta Hawks vs. Los Angeles Lakers (20-19)
Date: Friday, January 7th, 2022
Time: 10:00 PM EST
Venue: Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, California
NBA Moneyline Odds: Hawks | Lakers – (Bet Now!) Moneyline is off as of posting
NBA Betting Odds: Lakers -2.5
NBA Betting Total: 225.5
Friday, January 7th finds the Atlanta Hawks facing the Los Angeles Lakers for the first time this season. The clubs will complete the season series in Atlanta on January 30th.
The Lakers arrive following a 122-114 winning effort versus the Kings on Tuesday while the Hawks also played the Kings in a winning 108-102 effort on Wednesday.
All-time the Lakers have the advantage of winning 193 of 334 matches. Last season the teams played twice with each team winning on the opposition’s floor.
Atlanta Hawks
Missing their two key stars (Trae Young and John Collins) the Hawks showcased their depth and ability to win with their support staff.
The question moving forward is what Nate McMillan can do about his club’s woeful defensive ratings. Atlanta possesses the 26th ranked defense.
Digging deeper they allow the 24th most opponent points per game (111.0) rank 30th for forced turnovers (11.8) while scoring 13.8 points off those turnovers which ranks 29th.
Additionally, the Hawks rank 29th in steals (6.7) and 24th in blocked shots (4.4). Although they have a team of young athletic players they score only 8.9 fast-break points per game (28th) but allow teams to score 12.5 on the break (20th rank).
Suffice to say there is ample tweaks to be made and having Young state they’ve improved over where they were last season perhaps points to his failure to recognize the seriousness of their situation. They enter the day sitting 12th in the East with much work to do to replicate last season.
Several Hawks have exited protocols but a few are still working their way back such as Collins, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Gorgui Dieng, and Jalen Johnson all of whom are questionable for Friday.
Young (back) is also questionable while DeAndre Hunter (wrist) is out indefinitely and Solomon Hill (hamstring) is lost for the season.
Los Angeles Lakers
It’s hard to get too amped over wins by the Lakers when the opponents are the Blazers, Wolves, and Kings with all three missing key players and in truth, only the Blazers game was a breeze.
Using LeBron James at the center position is working well enough against these lower-seeded teams but we’ve yet to see how it’ll work against an elite club and Frank Vogel won’t have to worry about that today either.
If there was one area the Lakers will want to emulate from the win versus the Kings it was the mere five turnovers the club had – – on the season they rank 28th averaging 15.5 miscues per game (ranked 28th).
Anthony Davis (strained MCL) will miss at least a month to six weeks while Kendrick Nunn (knee) is out indefinitely.
NBA Betting Trends:
- The Lakers are 8-2 in their last 10 meetings against each other
- The Lakers are 6-4 ATS in the last 10 matches against the Hawks
- The over/under is 4-6 in the teams last 10 head to head matches
- The Hawks are 5-10 ATS in their last 15 games.
- The total has gone OVER in 5 of LA Lakers’ last 7 games.
- The total has gone OVER in 4 of Atlanta’s last 5 games.
Free Atlanta Hawks vs. Los Angeles Lakers NBA Prediction:
Both squads had higher hopes than where they reside at this stage in the season. Ironically, the Lakers are the team without depth but perform better defensively (14th) which they’ll need to employ to slow the second ranked offense of the Hawks.
Atlanta has performed better on the road than at home but the Lakers are dialed in to take advantage of the lower tier teams on the schedule. LA’s next nine games features five teams seeded fifth or higher plus the eighth seeds in both conferences (Hornets, Nuggets).
This is the fifth of six road games for the Hawks who are 2-2 to date with the final match versus the Clippers.
4* Free NBA Betting Pick: Lakers -2.5
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