Posted on 4/8/2008 6:29:44 PM

NBA Free Picks 2008 Hawks Hit the Road Against Pacers

By Tim Furious

Atlanta Hawks (36-41) vs. Indiana Pacers (33-44)

Tuesday, April 8th --- Conseco Fieldhouse, Indiana --- 7:00pm EST

NBA Betting Line: Indiana -3 (212.5)

The sports betting community will notice Atlanta has steadily started to shed that dreaded tag as a “road dog” by going 4-2 SU in their last 6 games after going 6-19 SU in their last 25 roadies. Their record against-the-spread has improved in turn, leading to a 4-2 ATS record in the last 6 games away from the ATL. On top of that, they’ve been scoring the lights out, and been getting torched in the process defensively. That’s why the OVER is always a sexy bet with the Hawks.

But they’re running in to a surprising Eastern Conference contender in the Indiana Pacers. Jermaine O’Neal has been playing out of his mind, and the wins are coming in tow. They are 4-1 SU in their past 5 games, not to mention 8-1 SU in their last 9 home games. With a 4-2 ATS record in their last 6 meetings with the Atlanta Hawks, there’s a lot of reason to love Indiana in this matchup.

But Indiana’s opponents have been less than stellar in the last two weeks. They beat New Jersey, Miami, and Milwaukee twice but they got smoked by Boston. Atlanta has won 4-of-5 in the last two weeks, with their only loss coming against Philadelphia. They rectified that by defeated the Sixers in the Wachovia Center the following night, but the pedigree of the Hawks opponents has been much better than that of Indiana.

On top of all that, and I’ve been saying this for weeks, Atlanta is molded like the Celtics, except for the obvious fact that they can’t play defense. They give up 99.4 points per game, 12th in the NBA, which is way off considering how tough KG is. But they’re getting there. And the Pacers looked horrendous against Boston.

Bibby, Josh Smith and Joe Johnson are going to run the court on the Pacers. Danny Granger can’t cover everyone on the floor, so I love the Hawks as road dogs in the OVER. Despite all of this, the Pacers defense is atrocious with 105.5 points against on average, so expect this to be a track meet that the Hawks sprint away with.

NBA Furious Free Picks: Atlanta +3 (OVER)

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