Hawks – Lakers

NBA basketball tonight in Atlanta. The Lakers will look to improve a dismal 1-9 record when they take on the court as the visiting team, while the Hawks will look for their offense to do the job against the defense-less Los Angeles.

The Hawks have been a different team at home than on the road so far, posting a 4-0 record in Atlanta but going down 1-5 when traveling. They are scoring the basketball pretty good, averaging almost 102 PPG and will try to take advantage of that against a Lakers team that just can`t defend offensive teams, even if Atlanta is not really a run and gun side. Atlanta lost by 30+ points at Cleveland three days ago, so they will look to recover tonight. They are a good side, probably playoff bound in the weak East, but not anything special.

Bet on Atlanta Hawks – LA Lakers with the best NBA odds at Unibet.

Los Angeles have been utter rubbish in terms of results, posting a 1-9 record and 0-4 on the road, getting blown out by the Warriors 2 days ago (despite 44 points from Kobe Bryant). However, the fact is that LA is not really such a bad team, they have just had a nightmare draw to start the season – meeting not only great teams, but run & gun teams that represent a horrible matchup for them, like the Clippers, Suns, Rockets, Spurs or Warriors. The only two games that LA played against slower paced teams ended up in a win against Charlotte and a last minute defeat on the road to strong Memphis. They won their only game against an Eastern Conference team (Charlotte) in convincing fashion.

Ryan Kelly will be out for LA but he has close to zero impact on this team, more importantly they get their 6th man Nick Young back after a long injury. He will probably be limited in minutes but still a huge boost for the bench in scoring.

4-0 at home against 0-4 away, at first glance you can`t argue with those records. However, I really like the Lakers not only to cover the spread, but win the game. They will relish a game against Eastern Conference opposition and against an opponent that does not have the same fast paced offense that killed the Lakers so far – though Atlanta can score, they are by no means Golden State or San Antonio. After so many beatings, LA is due a win and Atlanta is a team that they can take on, no doubt about that – Lakers blew out Charlotte 10 days ago, a similar team to the Hawks quality – wise (relevant, even if it was at home, it shows LA can play against good East teams). The odds are just not right here, so my tip will be Lakers to win straight up. The spread can be tricky (though I expect it to be covered), so I`m going for the best value. I can really see LA winning. Prediction: Atlanta Hawks – Los Angeles Lakers 100-105.

Pick: LA Lakers
Odds: 4.90 @ Unibet
Stake: 5
Possible profit: 19.5
Event date: 19 November