The Boston Celtics and Atlanta Hawks meet Friday in Game 3 of the NBA East First Round Playoffs at the State Farm Arena. Let’s preview this game and give out a pick and prediction.
The Boston Celtics are averaging 115.5 points on 51.7 percent shooting and allowing 102.5 points on 40.7 percent shooting. Jayson Tatum is averaging 27 points and 1210.5rebounds, while Derrick White is averaging 25 points and 4.5 assists. Jaylen Brown is the third double-digit scorer and Marcus Smart is grabbing 6 rebounds. The Boston Celtics are shooting 42.4 percent from beyond the arc and 82.1 percent from the free throw line. The Boston Celtics are allowing 27.3 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 51 rebounds per game.
The Atlanta Hawks are averaging 102.5 points on 40.7 percent shooting and allowing 115.5 points on 51.7 percent shooting. Dejounte Murray is averaging 26.5 points and 7 rebounds, while Trae Young is averaging 20 points and 3 rebounds. De’Andre Hunter is the third double-digit scorer, and Bogdan Bogdanovic is grabbing 3 rebounds. The Atlanta Hawks are shooting 27.3 percent from beyond the arc and 73.3 percent from the free throw line. The Atlanta Hawks are allowing 42.4 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 47 rebounds per game.
The Celtics are 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games playing on 2 days rest and 6-0 ATS in their last 6 games overall. The Hawks are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 home games and 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games overall. The over is 5-1 in Celtics last 6 road games. The under is 4-1 in Hawks last 5 Friday games. The Celtics are 7-0 ATS in the last 7 meetings.
The Atlanta Hawks should give a better effort now that they’re at home, but it’s going to take more than a home crowd to change this series. The Hawks aren’t playing much defense, and Trae Young has yet to take his game to another level to really elevate his team. The Celtics are having their way at both ends of the floor, and they’ve now won and covered 7 straight games against the Hawks. I’ll lay the reasonable chalk with the road team.