The 19-20 Atlanta Hawks visit the 11-26 Houston Rockets on Tuesday night, with the game tipping off at 8 PM EST.
This will be the first meeting between these two teams. The Hawks are currently eighth in the Eastern Conference, while Houston is the second-lowest seed in the Western Conference.
The Hawks are currently listed as 8.5-point favorites. The over/under for this intra-conference game is 224.5 points.
Recent Games
Atlanta last played Sunday, beating the Cleveland Cavaliers 100-82. It was the Hawk’s fifth-straight win, a streak that began before the All-Star break. Power forward John Collins led the scoring, finishing with 22 points. The Hawks also saw strong contributions from Nathan Knight off the bench. The forward filled the stat sheet, finishing with 16 points, nine rebounds, two assists, one steal, and two blocks.
Houston is as cold as it gets, losers of sixteen straight games. Their most recent came Sunday night against the Boston Celtics. The high-scorer was guard Victor Oladipo, who finished with 26 points on an inefficient 9-23 from the field.
Stat Leaders This Season
Guard Trae Young leads the Hawks in scoring, with 26.4 points per game and assists with 9.2. Clint Capela, who missed the most recent game and is currently day-to-day, leads the team in rebounds with 14.3 and blocks with 2.3.
Houston has dealt with a cavalcade of injuries since shipping out star James Harden. Christian Wood and John Wall are the two leading scorers, with 22 and 21 points per game, respectively, but both have been out for at least two weeks.
Their active leader in points is the aforementioned Oladipo, with 20.5 points. In Woods (10.2) stead, Jae’Sean Tate leads the team in rebounds with 5.3.
While a limited sample size, Kevin Porter Jr. leads the Rockets in assists with 8.3 per game in his three games with the team.
Offensive and Defensive Rankings
There are many ways to slice a team’s offensive and defensive performance. For offense, a few metrics of note here are points per game, effective field goal percentage, and efficiency. Houston is one of the NBA’s worst offenses, while Atlanta is middling, just outside the Top-12.
On the defensive side, with the same metrics in mind, both teams can be found right in the middle of the NBA.
Trends and Game Pick
The spread for this Hawks-Houston game is Hawks -8.5 and over/under at 224.5 points.
Atlanta is 19-19-1 ATS, while Houston is 12-25, the worst record in the league.
Bettors wagering on either teams’ overs on a consistent basis likely haven’t made money. Against over/under, Atlanta is 18-21, and Houston is 14-22-1.
The game pick for this Tuesday night match comes down to recent performance. The Hawks have not lost once in the month of March, while the Rockets haven’t had a win since February 4. Until Christian Wood returns to the lineup, it’s best to stay away from betting on Houston.
Game pick: Hawks -8.5 points
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