NBA Betting Guide for Wednesday, December 22: Can Hawks Overcome Their Lengthy Injury Report?
The Detroit Pistons couldn't score enough points on Tuesday night to give us any shot to cash the over. We'll need to turn the page quickly to avoid any losing streak. As a result, I'm targeting an underdog that's getting a ton of points despite both teams missing plenty of players due to injuries and COVID-19.
Let's head to the Gate City, where the Atlanta Hawks will host the Orlando Magic.
Orlando is coming off a 100-93 victory over a depleted Brooklyn team its last time out. On Wednesday, it'll take on an Atlanta team that will be without Trae Young, Clint Capela, and Danilo Gallinari. Both teams last faced one another seven days ago, and Atlanta won the game, 111-99. The Hawks were a nine-point favorite in that game, with Young, Capela, and Gallinari playing significant minutes. Now, Atlanta's currently a nine-point favorite again despite all three players already being ruled out this time around. When you look at the numbers, they don't add up here. And although Orlando has its lengthy injury list to worry about, there's too much uncertainty for both teams to justify Atlanta laying that many points.
Since the Magic took the loss in their last meeting seven days ago, I suspect they're more likely to make the necessary adjustments in this rematch. As for the Hawks, they could face some challenges trying to replace Young's production. The former Oklahoma product leads the team in averaging 27.3 points and 9.3 assists per game. He's the only player on the Hawks averaging at least 20 points as forward John Collins is second on the team with 17.2 points per game.
This is a great time to fade Atlanta since this will be their first game since Young, Capela, and Gallinari entered COVID protocols. The fact that we're not seeing much of an adjustment in the point spread bodes well for Orlando backers. We shouldn't be giving oddsmakers too much credit regarding pricing these games that COVID impacts.
This season, Atlanta's just 12-17 against the spread (ATS), and asking them to win by margin without multiple key players seems like a tall order. Moreover, as a home favorite, the Hawks are a dismal 0-7 ATS in their past seven games. While I know that Orlando hasn't had much success of late against Atlanta, this is an entirely different scenario than their previous encounters.
Take the points with the road underdogs.
Pick: Magic +9
All NBA predictions and picks are courtesy of SportsGrid.
