{"id":28040,"date":"2013-03-08T14:35:31","date_gmt":"2013-03-08T19:35:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=28040"},"modified":"2013-03-08T14:35:31","modified_gmt":"2013-03-08T19:35:31","slug":"nba-expert-picks-atlanta-hawks-vs-boston-celtics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/nba-expert-picks-atlanta-hawks-vs-boston-celtics-28040\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Expert Picks: Atlanta Hawks vs. Boston Celtics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Atlanta Hawks at Boston Celtics
\nFriday, 3\/8\/13, 8:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 ESPN
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Boston -5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Boston -4
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 188
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 188.5
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Atlanta
Atlanta Hawks C Al Horford has been tremendous on both sides of the floor recently<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Atlanta snapped a three-game losing streak last time out, as it picked up a 107-96 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers as 8.5-point home favorites Wednesday night, while going OVER the posted total of 190.\u00a0 The Hawks have been led by center Al Horford on the offensive end the last 11 games, as he\u2019s averaged 23.7 points and 11.3 rebounds in that span.\u00a0 The team is 15-16 overall on the road, including an 8-9 mark versus Eastern Conference opponents.\u00a0 Atlanta is 5-3 ATS as road underdogs of 3.5 to 6 points this season, with the OVER going 5-3 in that situation.<\/p>\n

The Hawks are in the midst of playing 10 of 14 games on the road, which can\u2019t be ignored when making your NBA expert picks Friday night.\u00a0 Atlanta should expect a big performance out of forward Josh Smith, as he\u2019s recorded five straight regular-season double-doubles against the Celtics, averaging 15.6 points, 11.6 rebounds and 5.4 assists in those contests.<\/p>\n

Boston has won four games in a row, including an 83-81 victory over the Indiana Pacers as nine-point road underdogs Wednesday, while going UNDER the posted total of 184.5.\u00a0 \u201cWe have found ways to win,\u201d commented Celtics forward Jeff Green.\u00a0 \u201cWe are finding a way.\u201d\u00a0 The Celtics are being led by veterans Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, who are averaging 15.0 and 18.5 points respectively.\u00a0 Boston is 21-15 ATS in March the last two-plus seasons, with the UNDER going 21-5 in that situation.<\/p>\n

The Celtics are 21-9 overall at the TD Garden this year, including a 9-6 mark versus conference foes, which is going to make them an attractive option on the pro basketball odds page.\u00a0 Boston has compiled an impressive 14-4 record since point guard Rajon Rondo was lost for the season, but it\u2019s important to note that he posted a triple-double in each of the first two meetings with Atlanta during the 2012-13 NBA season.<\/p>\n

Sports bettors will likely back the Hawks due to the underdog being 9-3 ATS in the last 12 meetings, while the Celtics are 3-3 ATS as home favorites of 3.5 to 6 points.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss out on a winning season and let the NBA handicappers at Maddux Sports line your pockets with cash.\u00a0 Long term packages are available now!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Atlanta Hawks at Boston Celtics Friday, 3\/8\/13, 8:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 ESPN Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Boston -5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Boston -4 Opening Total:\u00a0 188 Current Total:\u00a0 188.5 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker Atlanta snapped a three-game losing streak last time out, as it picked up a 107-96 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers as 8.5-point home […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":15745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,133],"tags":[3277,834,120,3622,3301,3276,846,3917],"class_list":["post-28040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nba-handicapping","tag-al-horford","tag-atlanta-hawks","tag-boston-celtics","tag-eastern-conference","tag-jeff-green","tag-josh-smith","tag-paul-pierce","tag-td-garden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28040"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28041,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28040\/revisions\/28041"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}