The Hawks are trendy picks to be crushed by the mighty Celtics, but are books undervaluing ATL's offense?
should still see plenty of fireworks. There’s real reason to think that Atlanta’s offensive potential is being underrated by betting markets, which is why I’m targeting the Over on their points total for my first best bet of the playoffs.
Many people were shocked when the Hawks summarily dispatched the Miami Heat in the 7-8 play-in game. Less so that they won at all, more so how they did it. That the Hawks outmuscled and outworked the Heat on the glass — pounding a team, that had so thoroughly beaten them in the 2022 playoffs, into submission was startling.
It was the culmination of changes that have been made to the Hawks’ offensive philosophy since the midseason hiring of Quin Snyder. Snyder is one of the best schematic coaches in the NBA, evidenced by how the Utah Jazz always outperformed their talent on both ends under his tenure. They generally got good shots and each player knew their role and played within it. It was clear at times in previous iterations of this Hawks team that they lacked such offensive cohesion.
Since the Snyder hiring on February 26th, the Hawks have scored a scorching 121.1 points per 100 possessions, the fourth-best mark in the NBA in that span. The thing is, they haven’t even shot that well. The improvement is largely coming from where they’re getting their shots, increased foul drawing, and as we saw against the Heat, offensive rebounding.
The Hawks have been a middling offensive rebounding team for some time, but under Snyder, they have had the second-highest offensive rebounding percentage in the Association at 31.5%. They smartly calculated that the Heat would not punish them by outworking them in transition and utilized their wings to crash the glass alongsideThis total seems anchored to the miserable offensive showing the Hawks gave against the Heat in last year's playoffs, but that’s a poor reference point.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
(2) Boston Celtics vs. (7) Atlanta Hawks: 2023 NBA first-round playoff previewThe Eastern Conference's second-seeded Boston Celtics and seventh-seeded Atlanta Hawks meet in the first round of the 2022 NBA playoffs. Boston won the teams' last first-round playoff meeting in 2016.
Read more »
FanDuel Promo Code: Score $150 for Hawks vs. Celtics, any gameThe FanDuel promo code lets new customers get $150 in bonus bets with just a $5 initial bet.
Read more »
ESPN Host Malika Andrews's Secret Weapon Is Her Memory — & Her Well-Stocked Snack DrawerIn this month's Why I Do It, we're speaking with Malika Andrews. She's an NBA reporter and the host of ESPN’s weekday NBA studio show, NBA Today, and also hosts Wednesday editions of ESPN’s NBA pregame show, NBA Countdown. Malika debuted as a sideline reporter during the unprecedented 2019-2020 NBA season, when she became one of the youngest sideline reporters ever for a Conference Finals telecast. In 2022, she became the first woman to host the NBA Draft — and she's not done yet. Here's why she does it.
Read more »
Nets vs 76ers NBA Odds, Picks and Predictions - NBA PlayoffsThe Nets are one of the weakest teams left in the playoffs, but the public's perception of their star-less squad creates value in Game 1's spread against the 76ers.
Read more »
NBA’s light punishment for Mavericks tanking hurts Knicks’ NBA draft chancesDallas sat several players in their penultimate game of the season in a blatant attempt to miss the play-in tournament and protect its 2023 first-round draft pick from conveying to the Knicks.
Read more »
LA City Councilman McOsker seeks to address city staffing gapsThe city is experiencing a 21% municipal job vacancy rate across its departments.
Read more »