Friday night NBA Playoff action and I will have a free pick in game 6 between the Atlanta Hawks and the Brooklyn Nets, which will take place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. The game has a start time of 8:00 pm (Eastern) and will be televised on TNT. Current Vegas betting odds have the Hawks listed as 4 point favorites, while the total is set at 200.5.
Analysis: The Atlanta Hawks are the top seed in the East but they have had a struggle with the 8th place nets in this series. The Hawks took game 5 by a score of 107-97 and have now won all 3 home games in the series, but they did lose both road games in the series so far. Atlanta has gone 25-18 on the road this year. Atlanta is 27-13-1 ATS in their last 41 games playing on 1 days rest, but just 3-8-1 ATS in their last 11 road games vs. a team with a losing home record. The Hawks scored 101.4 ppg on 45.4% shooting overall and 37.4% shooting from long range on the road this year. Defensively they allowed 99.5 ppg on 44.1% shooting overall and 35.2% shooting from long range away from home this year.
The Brooklyn Nets did get into the playoffs on the last day of the regular season and have really played hard in their matchup vs top ranked Atlanta. The Nets did suffer their first pointspread loss in this series on Wednesday, losing that game by 10 points. Now they have to win this game or their season is over and they are just 21-22 at home this year. The Nets have gone 7-1-1 ATS in their last 9 games following a S.U. loss and 8-2 ATS in their last 10 home games vs. a team with a winning road record. Brooklyn averaged 99.3 ppg on 44.8% shooting overall and 33.7% shooting from long range at home for the year. Defensively, at home, they allowed 101.2 ppg on 45.8% shooting overall and 35.6% shooting from long range.
Pick: I will go with the under once again in this series. In then last game the Nets hit 45.5% from long range, yet they were 26th in that department for the year and have hit just 33.7% of their treys at home this year. I can't see them hitting that good a percentage in this one and that really was the only reason that game 5 went over the total. The Hawks have played great defense in this series and the Nets did allow Atlanta just 83 points on this floor in game. Important game for both teams and I see them both bringing the defense here.
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