Free NBA Series Pick: Hawks vs Wizards NBA Odds
Looking for Atlanta Hawks vs. Washington Wizards free NBA series picks & NBA odds? NBA betting sees the Hawks taking on the Wizards on Sunday April 16th, 2017 at the Verizon Center, Washington D.C. Cappers Picks provides complimentary expert handicapping picks on all NBA basketball playoff matchups so stay tuned for more FREE daily NBA hoops predictions.
(43-39) Atlanta Hawks vs. Washington Wizards (49-33)
2017 NBA Playoffs: Western Conference Round 1
NBA Series Odds: Wizards -205 | Hawks +175
NBA Championship Futures Odds: Wizards +4000, Hawks +25000
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The NBA Playoffs are finally here and I will be previewing the 4/5 Eastern conference match up. The four seed Washington Wizards led by John Wall and Bradley Beal will take on the five seed Atlanta Hawks led by Paul Millsap.
These two teams matched up four times during the regular season. The Atlanta Hawks won the first match up but then the Wizards won the last three. The last game that took place on March 22nd was won by the Wizards 104-100. The last three games between the two teams all covered the under.
Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks have had quite the up and down season and not once during the season did they ever look like they were all fully in sync for an extended period of time.
The Hawks come into this series with a record of 43-39 which was good enough for second in the southeast division, only behind the Washington Wizards.
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The Hawks were a pretty average team on both sides of the ball. They averaged 103.2 points per game which is 22nd in the NBA. On the defensive side of the floor they gave up 104 points per game which was good enough 10th in the NBA. They liked to play a bit slower pace to the game.
One thing the Hawks were really good at was rebounding. They grabbed over 44 rebounds per game which was ninth in the league.
The heart and soul of the Hawks is Paul Millsap. On the season he averaged 18.1 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game. If the Hawks are going to have success in this series he really needs to be big. He usually has good games against the Wizards and he needs that to continue.
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The Hawks also need to find a way to slow down John Wall and Bradley Beal. They both can take over the game at anytime and they need to try and slow that down. They won’t be able to stop them, but they can’t have both of them having huge games or it could be a short series.
One thing to watch in this series is how well Dwight Howard can play. He is probable for game one with a back injury, but it sounds like an injury that could linger and give him problems throughout the rest oft he season.
Washington Wizards
After an absolute terrible start to the season, the Washington Wizards have been playing great basketball the last few months and they have huge expectations for this playoff run.
The Wizards strength is on the offensive end of the floor.
They average 109.2 points per game and shoot 47.5 percent from the field. They also shoot 37.2 percent from behind the arc. All of those measures rank top eight in the NBA.
On the defensive side of the floor the Wizards struggle a lot more.
They give up 107.4 points per game and opponents shoot 46.6 percent from the field. Both of those rank in the bottom third of the league. It’s not that big of a concern to the Wizards though, because they usually can score enough points to make up for it.
The Wizards are led by the dynamic back court of Bradley Beal and John Wall. They both finished the regular season averaging 23.1 points per game. Beal also had 10.7 assists per game and had over two steals a game.
To win this series they really need to carry the team. They can really exploit the weak back court of the Hawks and they need to make sure they do that.
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Look for the Wizards to really try and push the pace in this series.
The faster the pace these games are played at, the better the chance they will come out of this series the winners, and advance to the second round for a likely showdown with the Celtics.
Free Atlanta Hawks vs. Washington Wizards NBA Series Prediction:
In the playoffs it usually comes down to what team has better players, and who is playing the best coming into the playoffs. The answer to both of those is the Washington Wizards. They have a huge mismatch in their back court and they will really exploit that in this series.
4* Free NBA Series Betting Pick: Wizards in 5
I think the Hawks will be able to steal one game when they go to Atlanta to play but besides that the Wizards will have a pretty easy time, and will cruise into the second round of the playoffs.
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