Game Time: 2:00 PM ET, Sunday, February 13th, 2022 

Venue:  TD Garden, Boston Massachusetts

Where to Watch:  ABC

DraftKings:  Spread:  NL

BetMGM:  Spread:  Hawks -3.5; O/U 226

VegasInsider:  Spread:  Hawks –3.5; O/U 226

WynnBet: Spread:  NL

Hawks: 26-29, 10th place Eastern Conference

Celtics: 32-25, 7th place Western Conference

An Eastern Conference battle between teams with a long history and a new determination to secure playoff spots THIS SEASON.  The problem of course is most people will not see it.  This NBA matchup will take place on Super Bowl Sunday.  It’s on earlier than the Super Bowl and what the NBA and ABC is hoping for is all those house parties/BBQs that will be gathering people hours before the Super Bowl will want to have some sports on before the big game.  What will be happening mostly though is that the house parties will have the TV tuned to NBC, the Super Bowl channel, to watch all those boring, endlessly silly or poignant little player profiles and game previews.  Hour after hour people will watch some TV talking head deliver a report about the perfect Super Bowl food, or we will see which football players are playing for the glory of someone in their life that has undergone a tragedy, or blah, blah, blah… meanwhile they won’t even know they could flip the channel for a few hours and watch actual compelling sports.  The Atlanta Hawks have star PG Trae Young, an offensive machine.  The Boston Celtics have undervalued 2 guard Jaylen Brown and overlooked super star Jayson Tatum.  This should be a really good game.  Too bad you will be watching a report about Joe Burrow’s lucky socks in hopes that your wife can get a head start on the “funny” Super Bowl commercials.

The Atlanta Hawks have won 6 of their last ten games.  At #10th in the East… It is the time of the year where the Hawks will have to make a big push to try to land a spot above the “play-in tournament”.  They are finally at a place where the injury list isn’t swallowing up the whole roster.  In fact the only guy on that list is PF John Collins… a pretty important guy… but a real improvement from last month when Hunter, Huerter, Bogdanovic, Gallinari, and Okongwu all took a spot on the mend. The hawks are also 6-4 ATS over their last ten games.  Their last game was a loss to the San Antonio Spurs 136 - 121… and pretty good evidence that the Hawks need PF John Collins to play.  They also recently lost to the Dallas Mavericks 103-94, but a loss to the Mavericks is forgiven because of how tight Trae Young plays against Dallas star Luka Doncic.  Trae is aware that Luka is considered an all-timer, top 3 player in the league already… and since they were traded for each other on draft day they will always be compared to each other.  Trae feels the pressure.  Against the Celtics Trae feels no pressure and will let it fly from anywhere… probably not a good idea since Boston is 2nd in rebounding.

The Boston Celtics are winning!   They have won 9 of their last ten games and are currently on a 7 game winning streak.  The Celtics faithful have been impatiently scratching their heads at how a team with this much talent found themselves as low as 10th place in the Eastern standings this season.  It seems inexplicable that the 2 Celtic stars couldn’t win more.  The two stars aren’t the problem.  The problem is the help around those stars has been unreliable.  So, to address this the Celtics sent out SG Romeo Langford (a draft pick that never popped) and SG Josh Richardson (a normally reliable NBA role player, who shrank from his role this season) and got back SG Derrick White from the San Antonio Spurs.  The best thing that Derrick White brings to the club is consistency.  His first game for the Celtics he put in 15 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists in 28 minutes.  That is exactly the sort of thing the Celtics are looking for from him.. If he keeps delivering at that level then the Trade deadline was a success.  

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Atlanta is 26-29 on the season, but 24-31 ATS.  They have logged 30 Overs and 25 Unders.  They are 10-16 in road games.

The Celtics are 32-25 on the season, but 28-28-1 ATS. They have notched 23 Overs, 33 Unders, and 1 Push.  They are 19-10 in home games.  

The Hawks are 8th in scoring with 112 ppg, 19th in rebounds with 44.4 per game, and 4th in AST/TO ratio with 2.0.  They are shooting 6th in FG%, 3rd in 3PT%, and 6th in FT%... absolute wonderful shooting… too bad they rank 24th on defense while allowing 111.9 ppg from opponents.  The return of De’Andre Hunter to the lineup from the injury list has helped on the defensive side, but if PF John Collins misses this game, this team will struggle.

Our prediction for Sunday, February 13th is…. Celtics 118 - Hawks 109

The Celtics are gearing up for an end of the season push.  They have 2 stars in skill positions with SG Jaylen Brown and SF Jayson Tatum.  The Celtics that make up the rest of the team survived the trade deadline and they have 1 new player that will make an impact in SG Derrick White (whom they will most likely convert to point guard when playing with SG Jaylen Brown).  The Celtics are healthy.  They are also the safe bet in this one as PF John Collins will sit out with a heel injury for the Hawks.  

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Boston is 16 Over and 7 Under when playing a team with a losing record this season.
Atlanta is 58-50 ATS versus Boston since 1996.
Atlanta is 39 Over and 21 Under after having lost 3 of their last 4 games the last 3 seasons.

Hawks: PF John Collins (heel) Out

Celtics: No injuries to report

Hawks: SF De’Andre Hunter, PF John Collins, C Clint Capela, SG Kevin Huerter, PG Trae Young

Celtics: SF Jayson Tatum, PF Al Horford, C Robert Williams, SG Jaylen Brown, PG Marcus Smart 

Hawks

Points: Trae Young 27.6

Assists: Trae Young 9.4

Rebounds: Clint Capela 12.1

Steals: Malcolm Hill 1.3

Blocks: Onyeka Okongwu 1.4

Celtics

Points: Jayson Tatum 25.5

Assists: Marcus Smart 5.4

Rebounds: Robert Williams III 9.6

Steals: Marcus Smart 1.9

Blocks: Robert Williams III 2.2 

Hawks: Nate McMillan

Celtics: Ime Udoka