NBA Picks

NBA Betting Trends

NBA – January 27th

Pro Bowl Sunday highlights some fantastic basketball games on the docket both in the pros and in college. Today, we’re taking a look at the NBA betting lines between the Atlanta Hawks and the New York Knicks.

The Hawks are starting to get healthy, as the only man that we know isn’t going to be in the lineup is G Lou Williams, who is out for the season with an ACL injury. C Al Horford is back from missing a game, and the proof that he is healthy is that he played 51 minutes against the Boston Celtics two nights ago. G Devin Harris is back as well, and he put up 14 against Boston and played a good chunk of the overtime periods. F Josh Smith has been a man on a mission of late. He has put up 47 points, 27 rebounds, 15 boards, and five blocks in his last two games. He is averaging 16.7 points and 8.4 rebounds per game this year. Over the course of the last few games, the team has won three in a row and has gone 2-0-1 ATS. Of course, that’s a bit deceiving, knowing that those wins have come against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Charlotte Bobcats, and the Celtics in two OTs, but they are wins and covers no less.

New York has been an odd team to try to handicap of late. It has lost two of its last three, has failed to score 90 points in any of those games, and it is now 3-5 SU and 4-4 ATS over the course of its last four games. When the offense gets going as it has the potential to do, there is no stopping this club. However, defensive teams tend to just beat the snot out of this team, unless F Carmelo Anthony has a truly exemplary performance. But then when you look at the whole body of work for the boys from the Big Apple, you have to be impressed. The team is 26-15, has one of the best records in the Eastern Conference, and is 14-6 SU and 11-9 ATS at Madison Square Garden. A lot of that has come with various working pieces out of the lineup, but now, F Amare Stoudemire is coming off of the bench, G Raymond Felton is back in the starting lineup, and there really aren’t any pivotal parts to the club missing. This should be a team that gets back to its winning ways at some point.

Prediction:

And that’s what we think is going to happen with the Knicks on Sunday. They are taking on an Atlanta team that they have played very well against over the course of the last two seasons. The Hawks are just 1-4 SU and ATS in the last five in this series. Go with New York to get back to its winning ways on Sunday. New York 104 – Atlanta 95