The Boston Celtics and the Atlanta Hawks duke it out in a pivotal Game 3 at the State Farm Arena on Friday night.
The Boston Celtics will be looking to take a commanding 3-0 series lead after taking care of the Hawks in a 119-106 home win in Game 2 on Tuesday. Jayson Tatum led the team with 29 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, Derrick White added 26 points with seven rebounds and three blocks while Jaylen Brown chipped in with 18 points. As a team, the Celtics shot 55 percent from the field and 15 of 33 from the 3-point line as they poured in 33 points in the second quarter to build a 22-point lead, before they took their foot off the gas and cruised to a 2-0 series lead.
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Hawks will be eager to make their mark in this series after getting thrashed by the Celtics in Game 2 on Tuesday. Dejounte Murray led the team with 29 points, six assists and four steals, Trae Young added 24 points with six assists while De’Andre Hunter and Bogdan Bogdanovic each scored 18 points. As a team, the Hawks shot just 42 percent from the field and 16 of 48 from the 3-point line, but they struggled to keep pace with the Celtics from the start and they couldn’t get on any sort of a run until the game was out of reach. Clint Capela scored just four points while John Collins scored just five points on two of 11 shooting.
Looking at the betting trends, the Celtics are 21-8-1 ATS in their last 30 Conference Quarterfinals games and 6-0 ATS in their last six games overall. The Hawks are 1-4 ATS in their last five home games, 0-7 ATS in their last seven games against a team with a winning record and 0-4 ATS in their last four games overall.
Head to head, the under is 7-2 in the last nine meetings overall and the Celtics are 7-0 ATS in the last seven meetings overall.
The Celtics have dominated the Hawks so far, winning both games by double digits so it’s no surprise that they are still favorites as the road team. They say the series doesn’t start until someone wins on the road and I’m sure we’re going to see a better effort from the Hawks as they’ve yet to show us anything. With that being said, I’m expecting a much closer contest, but I just can’t go with the Hawks as the Celtics are 7-0 ATS in the last seven meetings overall.
AUTHOR: Peter Tran
