NBA - 705 Houston Rockets @ 706 Atlanta Hawks
Projected Line: Atlanta by 9 points
Houston is coming from a nice win in Detroit, with a great comeback in the 4th quarter, as they were down by 12 points at a certain time. I found Kevin McHale's rotations weird in that game, with the rookies not playing and with Marcus Morris in the starting lineup, when he is far from being a NBA ready player! Still, the Rockets did what they had to do on offense: pick and rolls with Jeremy Lin or James Harden every single time! The most ridiculous is that Detroit wasn't ready for that and they got completely outplayed. But every time Houston tried something new or involve their big men on the offense, they would screw up and this is why they ended the game with 20 turnovers, with 16 of them being committed by the starters!
Houston is clearly still a work in progress and they will struggle tonight against Atlanta. The Hawks are surely more ready for the new season than Detroit and they were also a much better team in defending pick and rolls than the Pistons were last season. Josh Smith's team help defense will be vital for tonight for the Hawks to stop the Rockets' offense, as Houston's frontcourt is quite limited offensively.
The Rockets' defense relies on Asik and his ability to rebound the ball and alter shots at the rim, but he will have a tough matchup tonight against Al Horford. In fact, Horford has a great mid-range game and he will be away from the basket a lot of times and this will attract Asik to go outside the paint, leaving Houston exposed down low.
I also expect a huge edge for Atlanta on second units. Kevin McHale showed in the game against Detroit that he has still a lot of doubts in using his rookies and the fact that he preferred to give minutes to players like Marcus Morris and Toney Douglas isn't a good thing. Atlanta will have one of the best benches this season, with Devin Harris, Louis Williams, Anthony Morrow and Zaza Pachulia.
I believe Atlanta is one of the most underrated teams in the East this season and they should take advantage of a favorable matchup against the Rockets to start the season with a good win. I'm taking the Hawks in here.
Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 706 Atlanta Hawks (-5,5) @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker
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