Game Time: 8:30 PM ET, Saturday, April 2nd, 2022 

Venue:  State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Georgia

Where to Watch: NBA League Pass

DraftKings:  Spread:  Nets -2.5; O/U 241

Fanduel:  Spread:  Nets -2; O/U 242

BetMGM:  Spread: Nets -2.5; O/U 241.5

Nets: 40-37, 8th place Eastern Conference

Hawks: 40-37, 10th place Eastern Conference

An Estern Conference NBA matchup between the two most disappointing teams in the East .  Both these teams are not what they promised at the start of the season.  Both these teams are not what we saw in our mind’s eye.  The Brooklyn Nets had a Big Three made up of the three biggest names in the NBA over the last decade if you take out LeBron and Giannis.  That sounds dumb but they had two MVP winners and a Champion point guard.  The problem was health and that the Champion point guard would not get vaccinated.  The result is one of the MVP’s wanted out as fast as he could get.  The vacuum that was left in James Harden’s wake was a team with two great players and not much else.  The Hawks impressed all of us in the playoffs last season… then they got jumped by several teams in the Eastern Conference who chose to improve. The result is that the Hawks impressed no one this year… despite still having the trade loser Trae Young.  Trae is a great scorer and pretty solid point guard… he is no Luka Doncic.  That trade will define Trae Young until his dying day.  The Nets vs the Hawks… disappointment vs disappointment… where should we put our $$?

The Brooklyn Nets have won 6 of their last ten games.  They went 4-6 ATS during that stretch.  They have been turning it on against the New York’s Orlando’s and Detroit’s.  They have been losing to the Milwaukee’s Charlotte’s and Memphis’s… there are some other games sprinkled in there but the results are the results.  They Nets lost SG James Harden who was essentially the best point guard they could have hoped for.  They are left with SF Kevin Durant, who may be the best pure sorcerer anywhere, and Kyrie Irving who can play point guard but is much more effective as a scoring guard.  The Nets lost their last game against the Milwaukee Bucks in overtime by 1 point…. 120-119.  It was a heartbreak for them.  Stuck in 8th place and losing to the better teams… and trying to reintegrate a guy who thinks the earth is flat.   Sad all around.

The Atlanta Hawks have won 7 of their last ten games.. They went 6-4 ATS during that stretch.  They are on a 4-game winning streak.  The Hawks have all the pieces needed to win a play-in game and then upset someone in the playoffs… except will they do that? Leading scorer and assist man Trae Young gets 28.2 ppg and 9.6 apg.  Those are great numbers… but he is a zombie on the defensive end.  A guy like Kyrie Irving could carve Trae up for 40 points without breaking much of a sweat.  PF John Collins is stuck on the injury list.. And the team’s biggest problem.  John Collins should have been traded at the trade deadline and he wasn’t. The result is a team holding on to a guy that has regressed for the third season in a row from his best years… at the same time they are not winning.  

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The Nets are 40-37 on the season, but 31-44-2 ATS.  They have logged 39 Overs, 37 Unders, and 1 Push. 

The Hawks are 40-37 on the season, but 34-43 ATS. The have notched 42 Overs, 35 Unders.  They are 25-14 in home games/

Brooklyn is 9th in scoring with 112.5 ppg, 18th in rebounds with 44.1 per game, and 11th in AST/TO ratio with 1.8.  On defense they rank 21st while allowing 112.2 ppg from opponents.

The Hawks are 6th in scoring with 113.7 ppg, 21st in rebounds with 43.9 per game, and 4th in AST/To ratio with 2.1.  On defense they rank 22nd while allowing 112.4 ppg from opponents.

Our prediction for Saturday, April 2nd is…. Nets 119 - Hawks 117

Look at the spread.  The Hawks don’t have the defensive numbers to hold off Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving let alone Seth Curry and Andre Drummond.

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6 of 9 games have gone Over in this series the last 3 seasons.
Atlanta is 4-1 ATS as a home underdog of 6 points or less.

Nets:  Sg Seth Curry (ankle) Quest ** PG Bruce Brown (ill) Quest ** SG Ben Simmons (back) Out  ** SG Joe Harris (ankle) Out

Hawks: SG Lou Williams (lower body) Prob ** PG Trae Young (groin) Prob ** SF James Johnson (concussion) Out ** PF John Collins (foot) Out

Nets: SF Bruce Brown, PF Kevin Durant, C Andre Drummond, PG Kyrie Irving, SG Seth Curry

Hawks: SF Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, PF DeAndre Hunter, C Clint Capela, SG Kevin Huerter, PG Trae Young

Nets: Steve Nash

Hawks: Nate McMillan