Game Time: 7:30 PM ET, Thursday, February 3rd, 2022 

Venue:  State Farm Arena, Atlanta Georgia

Where to Watch:  TNT

DraftKings:  Spread: Suns -5.5; O/U 224

BetMGM:  Spread:  Suns -5.5; O/U 223.5

VegasInsider:  Spread: Suns - 5.5; O/U 223.5

WynnBet: Spread:  NL; O/U 224

Suns: 41-9, 1st place Western Conference

Hawks: 24-26, 10th place Eastern Conference

A matchup of the best team in the Western Conference versus a very average team in the Eastern Conference.  The Phoenix Suns are the #1 team in the Western Conference… and in basketball.  At around the 50 game mark for every team… The Suns are the only team in the league left standing with single digit losses. They get their excellence from near perfect balance on the roster.  They have the best floor general in the NBA at point guard (not the best player, the best leader). They have a young athletic star scoring the ball from the shooting guard spot. They have a great, young NBA Center who has combined enough skill with size and athleticism to be one of the few Centers in the league to keep demonstrating the importance of that position in a 3-point shooting league!  Outside of that may be the team’s most important player:  SF Mikal Bridges.  Mikal contributes on offense for sure, 12.7 ppg… but he shines on defense.  The small forward position in the NBA is no joke… some of the best scorers/players to ever touch a ball will cross paths with Mikal… and Mikal gives it his all to keep them from going off.  He is indicative of an attitude that persists throughout the team from starting PF Jae Crowder all throughout the strong bench players… effort, focus, winning takes everybody.    The Atlanta Hawks are the below average East team that hasn’t found that team first attitude and it shows.  They have  bright young stars in PG Trae Young and PF John Collins… and the two don’t play well together at all.  Trae holds the ball too long (though he is a great passer) and ends up with a fully weighted usage rate.  John puts up good numbers, but is having a down season.  A season where he doesn’t seem locked in and can disappear for stretches.  The roster does have a player like Mikal Bridges in small forward De’Andre Hunter.  De’Andre plays two way basketball and is clearly skilled on both ends, but he has missed significant time to injury since being drafted 4th overall in 2019 by the Lakers and traded as part of the Anthony Davis trade to the Pelicans who immediately shipped him to Atlanta in exchange for more picks.  The rest of the roster is in flux.  Shooters who don’t defend, defenders who don’t shoot.  Guys who may or may not be there after the trade deadline… grizzled vets and bright eyed rookies.  Trae Young is the player certain to stay in Atlanta… he should watch Chris Paul closely with every chance he gets to… That’s the player he should want to be when he grows up.  (That isn’t a knock on Trae who is a great guy and fantastic player… it’s just the direction he should deliberately head).

The Phoenix Suns have won all ten of their last ten games!!  They are also 7-3 ATS during that stretch.  The entire streak is actually 11-games in a row.  They had an 18-game winning streak earlier in the season.  These guys are winners.  They're certainly not afraid of any Team in the East, that is for sure.  During this streak they have beaten the Brooklyn Nets, the Utah Jazz (twice), the Dallas Mavericks, the San Antonio Spurs (twice)... They just keep rolling.  They have one rough patch they will have to deal with as just yesterday back-up PG Cameron Payne sustained a right wrist sprain and will miss some time.. The another backup guard Landry Shamet is already out with sprained right ankle.  This will leave a burden on PG Elfrid Payton to be on his game whenever Chris Paul needs a breather… and they may have to use SF Justin Jackson or SF Cameron Johnson at shooting guard a bit to spell Devin Booker.

The Atlanta Hawks aren’t terrible.  They are on a serious upswing at the moment and an upswing that may prove to be too little too late.  They have won 7 of their last ten games.  It was a good stretch against the spread as well going 7-3 ATS.   The three losses were to the Miami Heat, the Toronto Raptors, and the New York Knicks… that is a roller coaster of up and down against a variety of good and bad teams.  In the wins they have one against the Miami Heat and 1 against the Milwaukee Bucks… so this isn’t a case of a team feasting on the bad teams while losing to the good teams.  Their season record is a case of a team that has two faces.  They shoot the ball well every game, but almost never show up for defense.  The wins come with health and hustle… the losses come from their tendency to fold in the face of adversity.  Coach Nate McMillan is pretty good at what he does and needs a few more players capable on defense.  

Nelly’s was 3-0 last night and 3-0 on Monday as well, riding a hot streak in basketball. We’ve hit back-to-back winners in the NBA and tonight we have an Eastern Conference Knockout play on Wednesday’s schedule to add to a 62% NBA run since January 12. Join one of the BigAl.com leaders in the past week for another big night in basketball. Go get it! Get Nelly Sports’ picks right now at the Shop Picks page, where you can find all of the Best Bets from our champion sports handicappers. NCAAF, NFL, MLB, college football… get positive value from all your bets! Expert picks!  Fun fact… winning a wager is much better than making a wager!

Phoenix is 41-9 on the season, but 28-22 ATS.  They have logged 22 Overs, 27 Unders, and 1 Push.  They are a league best 19-4 on the road.

Atlanta is 24-26 on the season, but 22-28 ATS.  They have notched 26 Overs, 24 Unders.  They are 14-12 in home games.

Phoenix is 3rd in scoring with 113.0 ppg, 6th in rebounds with 45.9 per game, and 3rd in AST/TO ratio with 2.0 (thanks CP3).  They shoot 1st in FG%, 5th in 3PT%, and 7th in FT%.  Thye play tough defense where they rank 7th while only allowing 105.1 ppg from opponents.

Atlanta is 8th in scoring with 111.5 ppg, 18th in rebounds with 44.4 per game, and 4th in AST/TO at 2.0.  They are good shooters.  6th in FG%, 3rd in 3PT%, and 6th in FT%.  On defense they struggle mightily.  They rank 23rd while allowing 111.2 ppg from opponents.

Our prediction for Thursday, February 3rd is….  Suns 129 - Hawks 119

The Suns have been on a roll against everybody and the Phoenix doesn’t have the defense to put an end to that.  The trepidation with this game is that the Hawks are very good against the spread.  The Hawks are good shooters and can close a gap quickly.  If the books try to sucker you with a double digit point spread, bet the Hawks.  If not?.. Bet on the Suns.  The Suns will decidedly win however as Trae Young is questionable with shoulder soreness… the team should shut him down for this game out of precaution… It is the Suns after all.

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Phoenix is 3-2 ATS versus the Hawks over the last 3 seasons.

All 5 of these games have gone OVER.

Atlanta is 2-0 ATS versus Phoenix in Atlanta the last 3 seasons.

Phoenix: PG Cameron Payne (wrist) Out ** SG Landry Shamet (ankle) Out

Atlanta:  PG Trae Young (shoulder) Quest

Phoenix: SF Mikal Bridges, PF Jae Crowder, C Deandre Ayton, SG Devin Booker, PG Chris Paul

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

Suns

Points: Devin Booker 25.4

Assists: Chris Paul 10.4

Rebounds: Deandre Ayton 10.4

Steals: Chris Paul 1.9

Blocks: Bismack Biyombo 1.1

Hawks

Points: Trae Young 27.7

Assists: Trae Young 9.3

Rebounds: Clint Capela 12.3

Steals: Malcolm Hill 1.3

Blocks: Onyeka Okongwu 1.6

Suns: Monty Williams

Hawks: Nate McMillan