Boston Celtics (57-25) at Atlanta Hawks (41-41)
Game Info: Sunday, April 23, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. EST (State Farm Arena)
Betting Odds: Celtics (-6.5) / Over/Under (232)
Pick: Hawks (+6.5)
Sunday night gives us a decisive game 4 between the Boston Celtics and Atlanta Hawks, with the home squad looking to even things up before heading back to TD Garden.
Boston utterly dominated the Hawks by a combined 26 points in their first 2 games of the series, which allowed them to take a commanding 2-0 lead before heading down south to play the next 2 inside of the State Farm Arena. The following game they were punched in the mouth in the last 3 quarters of the game, being outscored by 12 points to finish it off. All series long they have been able to get their way on the offensive side of the ball, but their defensive play fell short of their high expectations in game 3, which was what put them in a hole. If they are to take a 3-1 lead after Sunday night's game, they will need to tighten things up in front of their basket to limit the open shots that the Hawks are getting all night long. That will start and end with Trae Young and Dejounte Murray, the superstar duo guard that were able to put up an astounding 57 points in game 3 to lead them to a must win.
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Atlanta came into game 3 with the whole basketball world expecting them to be discouraged and to lie over to the 2nd seeded Celtics... but they did the exact opposite. They were able to stun the Celtics by a score of 130-122, giving them a fighters chance heading into Sunday's game to even things up 2-2 before heading away from State Farm Arena the following game. Although Young and Murray were able to get in a groove early and often in game 3, I expect the Celtics coaching staff to hone in on the guard pairing from the jump here. This will call for the Hawks secondary options to have to step up if they want to stick in it until the final whistle blows. Although I am not completely dismissing what the Hawks have to put on the table in regards to who can score behind them, it remains to be seen what will happen if the guard duo can not replicate what they did in game 3.
Betting trends to consider in this matchup:
- Boston is 16-19 ATS when playing as the road favorite
- The over is 26-16 the following game after the Hawks have registered a win
- The over is 14-11 the following game after the Celtics have lost
This is sure to be a tough game to read as the Celtics have the ability to take over a game at any point if they are clicking on all cylinders. In spite of that, I expect the Hawks to keep this within range all night long to deliver the win for us. To many fans surprise, they were able to battle and succeed against one of the best teams in the league in game 3. Now, I am going to back them to build on that win and give themselves a chance to even things up on their home floor in crunch time.
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