NBA Betting Preview: Boston Celtics vs. Atlanta Hawks Game 1 Odds, Analysis

The Atlanta Hawks (48-34) may not have won the Southeast Division and earned the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference like they did last year.

However, the fourth-seeded Hawks will have home-court advantage against a favorable opponent in the fifth-seeded Boston Celtics (48-34) when they tip off their first-round series Saturday. Atlanta is a consensus 5.5-point favorite for Game 1 at sportsbooks Odds Shark monitors. 

The Celtics lost the last three regular-season meetings with the Hawks both straight-up and against the spread after winning the first one 106-93 as 1.5-point home underdogs back on November 13. Overall, the four games were decided by an average of 14 points, with both played in Atlanta won by double digits.

The previous three head-to-head matchups also finished over the total, according to the Odds Shark NBA Database.

After getting held under the century mark in the first meeting, the Hawks averaged 116 points in the series and will try to keep up that pace and take advantage of a questionable Boston defense.

The most recent game between the teams took place a week ago in Atlanta and resulted in a 118-107 victory, with power forward Paul Millsap scoring a game-high 31 points for the Hawks followed by 24 from point guard Jeff Teague and 21 from small forward Kent Bazemore. No Celtic scored more than 19.

The individual matchup between Teague and Boston’s Isaiah Thomas should be watched carefully as it could very well be the difference in this series, with the latter scoring 16 in the last meeting on only 6-of-19 shooting.

Thomas averaged 20.5 points in the four games against the Hawks but shot just 38.3 percent from the field. Teague scored 13 points per game on 43.2 percent shooting but really played well down the stretch, averaging 22 points on 51.6 percent from the field in six April games.

Despite making it to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, Atlanta peaked too early in the regular season and will be looking to simply keep rolling in this series.

Like the Hawks in 2015, the Celtics were swept by the eventual conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round and hope that experience will help them this year.

Atlanta is 6-12 ATS on the NBA betting lines in its last 18 playoff games, while Boston is 10-6 ATS in its past 16.