NBA Betting Free Picks: Atlanta @ Orlando
Added on May 06, 2010 by Jack Thurman in
No Comments
Sportsbooks offering a single NBA betting opportunity for Thursday night, and we’ll take a position in game two of the Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic. Orlando destroyed Atlanta in Game 1, winning by 43 points as -9 home favorites.
Atlanta Hawks at Orlando Magic
May 6, 5:05 PM Pacific
The kneejerk reaction to this game is that Atlanta came in flat for Game 1, got blown out and will bounce back strong in the second game. We’re not buying it. If the Atlanta Hawks were a stock they would have been showing ‘sell’ signals for the past couple of weeks. They were almost upset in the first round by a Milwaukee Bucks team playing without their leading scorer (Michael Redd) and best all around player (Andrew Bogut). Unfortunately for Atlanta, the Bucks brought a lot of intensity and toughness to the series which is why the Hawks needed 7 games to eliminate them.
Another big warning sign about this Atlanta team was the fact that they were unable to exploit their online betting matchup advantage in the absence of Andrew Bogut. Milwaukee was without their best interior defender and low post scoring threat, but the Hawks were unable to control the paint. That doesn’t bode well against the formidable presence of Dwight Howard, and not surprisingly he had a big game in the opener with 21 points, 12 boards and 5 blocks in only 29 minutes of play. Charlotte had enough big bodies to throw at him and repeatedly foul Howard, but Atlanta doesn’t. Magic have a huge matchup advantage up front, and basically they care a lot more than Atlanta does. Hawks *may* show up for Game 3 back in Atlanta, but they probably won’t here.
Bet Orlando -9 over Atlanta
