NBA: Atlanta Hawks vs Toronto Raptors Preview, Odds, Prediction

The Atlanta Hawks are very good lately and have high hopes before the trip to Florida, where they face the Toronto Raptors. For all those who forgot the 2019 NBA champions play in Tampa Bay due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, and to be perfectly honest, it seems that Nick Nurse’s guys aren’t very happy about that. They are losing and are even outside the play-in tournament zone. That can’t be said for the Hawks, who are sitting fourth and are on a nice streak that saw them victorious in six of the past seven events. There wasn’t a better time for these guys to improve their form and go up in the standings.

Preview

Atlanta Hawks (29-25, -160) won two in a row, the most recent one against the Charlotte Hornets on the road, 105-101. Now, what makes this victory special is the fact that the Hawks recorded the same without Trae Young and Danilo Gallinari.

But that wasn’t a problem for Atlanta, with Bogdan Bogdanovic dropping 32 points, sinking 8 threes all that in 41 minutes. The Serb was excellent, splashing downtown shots and frustrating the rivals during the entire game. He’s been superb in the last few weeks. In the recent 10 matches, Bogi has 19.3 points per night, with 50.3% shooting from the field, and 48.6% for three.

Clint Capela was dominant under the rim as usual, with 20 points and 15 boards, while Brandon Goodwin added 17 points, 8 assists, and five rebounds.

Toronto Raptors (21-33, +135) posted three losses in the last four games. The Raps lost at home to LA Lakers and the Chicago Bulls, before beating the Cavaliers in Ohio, 135-115. Toronto was defeated this Monday against the New York Knicks at Madison, 102-96.

It was a frustrating game for the Canadian side, who managed to come back from being down 20 points, to going up four with seven minutes to go. However, they didn’t have enough juice to close the job.

Gary Trent had 23 points, a team-high, Kyle Lowry scored 19 with seven boards and six assists, while Chris Boucher posted a strong double-double with 17 points and 14 boards along with four blocks. Pascal Siakam had mediocre productivity, 16 points, seven assists, but with a poor shooting percentage, 5-for-18.

Head to Head

This is the third head-to-head game since the season began. In both previous, the Hawks won. The first on Feb 6, Atlanta won at home, 132-121, and the last one, on March 11, the Hawks went to Tampa Bay to squeeze out a minimal victory, 121-120.

Prediction

Trae is still not certain about this event, and neither is Gallinari. But after seeing how Hawks handled the Hornets in one very tough and interesting game, we expect them to win this match. We are not going to lie, there is some risk involved, yet the odds are nice, keeping in mind that McMillan’s side red-hot recently. If Young recovers for Tuesday’s game, don’t hesitate for one moment to stake your money on Atlanta’s victory. With him in the lineup, they are one very good team, capable of going deep in the playoffs, despite being very young.

Pick: Hawks win