NBA Odds: Celtics Favored Over Hawks In Friday Night Tilt At TD Garden
The Boston Celtics will be looking to win three games in a row for the first time in three weeks when they host the struggling Atlanta Hawks on Friday night.
Boston opened a three-game homestand Wednesday with its most lopsided victory in just over a year, routing the New York Knicks 103-73 to improve to a 23-10 straight up against Eastern Conference opponents going into Friday’s Hawks vs. Celtics betting matchup at TD Garden.
The Celtics’ win over the Knicks also puts the brakes on a three-game SU slide on home court and marks the first time the club has tallied consecutive SU wins since seeing a seven-game win streak come to a halt in early January.
In addition, Boston paid out as a 5.5-point home favorite Wednesday, rewarding bettors at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com with a fourth straight against-the-spread victory, and marking the club’s longest ATS win streak since November.
Kyrie Irving missed Wednesday’s contest as he nurses a quad contusion suffered in Monday’s narrow 111-110 win over the Denver Nuggets as 1-point underdogs, and he remains listed as day-to-day, leaving his status uncertain for Friday night’s clash.
The Celtics have produced mixed results this season with Irving out of the lineup, going 2-2 SU and ATS. Boston also has struggled at times in recent home dates with the Hawks, coming up short in Atlanta’s past two regular-season visits to TD Garden. However, the Celtics dominated in a pair of November matchups in Atlanta, capped by a 110-99 win as 6-point road favorites on Nov. 18.
Clashes between these squads regularly have turned into high-scoring affairs, with the OVER going 6-1-1 in their past eight meetings overall, including their past two dates in Boston.
The Hawks open a two-game road trip Friday after suffering a 123-110 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats as 2.5-point home underdogs Wednesday. With the loss, Atlanta now has recorded consecutive wins just once during its current 5-10 SU run and is enduring a dismal 1-11 SU run on the road. However, the Hawks remain a respectable 7-4-1 ATS during that road stretch, according to the OddsShark NBA Database.
Following Friday’s contest, the Celtics welcome the Portland Trail Blazers to town for a Super Sunday matinee before traveling to Toronto for a crucial matchup with the Raptors on Tuesday night.
Boston is just 1-3 SU in four dates with the Trail Blazers. The Celtics also are winless SU in their last four visits to Air Canada Centre, where the second-place Raptors have amassed an NBA-best 19-4 SU record this season.
