NBA Basketball Preview: Detroit Pistons at Atlanta Hawks

Added on Mar 20, 2011 by Jack Thurman in

NBA

Sunday NBA betting action serves up an Eastern Conference matchup between the Atlanta Hawks and Detroit Pistons. Hawks have dropped far off the pace in the Southeast Division and currently hold down the 5th place in the East. The Pistons are in 11th place with a 4 1/2 game deficit to make up on the 8th place Indiana Pacers.

Detroit Pistons at Atlanta Hawks
March 20, 2011 11:05 PM Pacific

The Hawks are a team full of underachieving head cases–they’re capable of looking like contenders when everything goes their way but that seldom happens. They’ve been in poor form of late having lost 7 of their last 10 games and have been a horrible pointspread investment most of the season. The Hawks have dropped 12 of their last 18 against the spread and have a brutal 12-22 ATS record at Phillips Arena this season. They’ve dropped their last two home games–to Denver and Miami–in completely non-competitive fashion.

Detroit isn’t exactly a *good* team but they put up a decent effort on most nights. They’ve covered eight of their last 13 games and have made money in several relevant pointspread categories this season. They’re 31-25 ATS as an underdog, 19-15 ATS on the road and 9-5 ATS against the Southeast Division. The Pistons aren’t a good defensive team–they’re dead last in opponent FG percentage–but the way the Hawks have been playing lately we’re not sure they can exploit this liability. Hawks have dominated the series straight up winning 7 of the last 10 but the Pistons have been very competitive against the spread. Detroit is 5-5 ATS against the Hawks overall and 2-3 ATS in Atlanta since 2008. This is the worst Atlanta team in the past few years, so this may be Detroit’s best opportunity to break through for an outright win in quite some time. Pistons have shown a small profit (24-22 ATS) in revenge spots and Atlanta has a losing ATS record against teams with records under .500 (17-19 ATS). They’re also 6-10 ATS after a loss of 10+ points which suggests a team that has a hard time bouncing back from adversity. We’ll take the points and go against a slumping Hawks team that can’t seem to get out of their own way.

Bet Detroit Pistons +7′ over Atlanta Hawks