Hawks Not ‘Real Threat’ To Celtics In First-Round Matchup, Oddsmakers Say

The second-seeded Celtics learned Tuesday night they will face the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the 2023 NBA playoffs, and oddsmakers clearly view it as a favorable draw for Boston.

Not only does FanDuel Sportsbook view the Celtics as a nine-point home favorite for Game 1, but the Green also are a -1000 favorite to win the best-of-seven playoff series. The Hawks currently are +660 to upset the Celtics in the first round. Atlanta earned the seventh seed with Tuesday’s win against the Miami Heat in the NBA Play-In Tournament.

“Hawks have just been too inconsistent all season to put together a real threat,” Las Vegas bookmaker Jeff Sherman told NESN.com. “Winning a game or two in that series would be a representation of Atlanta’s season.”

Boston is favored by 2.5 games in the best-of-seven series spread with the juice pointing to the Celtics. The Hawks would need to extend the series into six or seven games in order to cover the series spread.

Sherman added how the Heat, if Miami advanced past the Hawks in Tuesday’s play-in game, would have had a much shorter price to upset the Celtics. Behind Jimmy Butler, last year’s Eastern Conference finalists would have been in the neighborhood of -650, according to Sherman. The Heat now have their season on life support and enter the second and final Eastern Conference play-in game Friday.

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Many viewed the Hawks as a more favorable first-round matchup for the Celtics prior to Tuesday’s result. While Miami’s offense has taken a step back this season, Butler still has the ability to be the best player on the floor on any given night. Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra likely would’ve given Miami an advantage over Celtics first-year head coach Joe Mazzulla, as well.

Fortunately for the Celtics, they won’t have to deal with those concerns.

Instead, Boston will face a Hawks team it swept in three regular-season games. The Celtics previously earned a 134-125 win over Atlanta without starting center Robert Williams in mid-March and claimed a 25-point victory against Trae Young’s team in mid-November. Atlanta doesn’t present nearly the defensive prowess of Miami, either.

In other betting markets, the Celtics are behind only the Eastern Conference’s top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks to win the NBA Finals and conference.

Boston will welcome Atlanta to TD Garden on Saturday for the series opener with tip scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET.