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The Atlanta Hawks take on the Milwaukee Bucks. Check out our NBA odds series, which includes our Hawks Bucks prediction and pick.
The early days of the NBA season are full of surprises, but the Milwaukee Bucks have not been surprising at all. They have been very good, as expected. Giannis Antetokounmpo has been great, as expected.
Giannis has had the best opening fortnight of any NBA player. In the first two weeks of the season, he and the Bucks have ruled the roost. Milwaukee is the last unbeaten team in the league, and Giannis has established an elite standard: just over 34 points, 13 rebounds, and 6 assists per game. Get this: Giannis isn't even shooting that well. He is 5 of 16 on 3-pointers and 27 of 43 on free throws. Imagine if he can improve his long-range and foul-line shooting strokes. He would be averaging close to 40 points per game if he raised his shooting accuracy by five percentage points (threes and foul shots).
Milwaukee is in a really good place in the East, very likely the favorite if all angles of the Eastern Conference are to be considered right now. The Celtics have their head coach suspended and are predictably struggling under their replacement. The internal turmoil in Boston is going to be hard to overlook. The Miami Heat are struggling and face significant concerns about multiple core pieces of their rotation. The Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets are both in very bad shape. It looks like Milwaukee's conference.
An intriguing presence in the East is this Atlanta team Milwaukee will host on Saturday. With a healthy Clint Capela in the paint — something the Hawks haven't had on a consistent basis — Atlanta owns a defensive paint presence to complement Trae Young's perimeter scoring and playmaking. The Hawks have the substance of something which can become greater, but their defense is certainly a concern. They got torched by a shorthanded Charlotte Hornet team this past Sunday, and they merely managed to split a pair of games with the Detroit Pistons earlier this week. The Hawks will be as good as their defense will take them. Nate McMillan has a lot of work to do at the defensive end of the floor.
Here are the Hawks-Bucks NBA odds, courtesy of FanDuel:
NBA Odds: Hawks-Bucks Odds
Atlanta Hawks: +5 (-108)
Milwaukee Bucks: -5 (-112)
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Over: 229 (-110)
Under: 229 (-110)
Why The Hawks Could Cover The Spread
The Hawks blew out the Pistons on Friday, playing as well as they could at the offensive end of the floor. Over the course of the full season, the Hawks will need to be a lot better on defense, and everyone in the NBA knows that. However, early in the season — as teams settle in and get used to playing with each other — you'll see plenty of games in which teams aren't crisp defensively and are vulnerable to getting eviscerated by a white-hot offense and a team which is on a roll. The Hawks certainly fit the profile of a team which can go nuts on offense and grab an unexpected road victory.
Why The Bucks Could Cover The Spread
The Bucks are the best team in the NBA through four games. Giannis is the NBA's best player through four games. Maybe that's not much (and it isn't), but when a team is going good, why bet against it? Do the Hawks have the defense to slow down Giannis and become the first NBA club to give Milwaukee a loss? It sure doesn't seem like it.
Final Hawks-Bucks Prediction & Pick
The Bucks are in a good place, and the Hawks do not figure to be the team which will play the level of defense needed to halt Milwaukee's winning streak.
Final Hawks-Bucks Prediction & Pick: Bucks -5
