It was a marathon, but the Atlanta Hawks finally came out on top on Sunday, beating New York 142-139 with Paul Millsap on the court for 60-minutes, leading the team to victory. Unfortunately for Millsap and the Hawks, there’s no rest for the weary. They hit the road on Wednesday before taking on the Houston Rockets in a back-to-back on the road this coming Thursday. Houston may be struggling right now, but with James Harden, they’re still a tough team to play without a day off.
This war on the floor will go down Thursday, February 2, 2017, at 8 p.m. ET at the Toyota Center. The game will be televised live on TNT.
We'll have NBA odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NBA Thursday schedule.
Odds Analysis
From December 1 through January 10 it was nearly impossible to find a better team in all of the NBA. They went 20-2 in that span and clearly elevated themselves into an elite club, but what a difference a couple of weeks makes.
Now, the Rockets are 4-7 in their last 11 games. This is still an elite offensive team, but their defense has been completely inept during these past 11 games.
In addition, they’ve also now failed to cover the spread in four straight games. All four of those were on the road, but Houston has actually performed better ATS on the road than at home this year where they’re 11-11 ATS at the Toyota Center.
Flipping to the other side of the hardwood, the Hawks are 6-3 SU in their last nine games after an overtime win against the Knicks in a high scoring affair. They failed to cover the spread in that victory, however, and are now just 1-3 ATS in their last four games.
Player to Watch
Keep an eye on Eric Gordon. The Houston sixth man has been one of the league’s best three-point shooters this season and ranks second in the NBA in that category—behind only Stephen Curry—as recently as January 13.
It’s no coincidence that his shooting from deep nose-dived the same time the Rockets’ record did. He’s just 22-for-77 from beyond the arc since that time.
Since January 10, Gordon has dealt with toe, ankle and back injuries; missing a couple games here and there.
When he has played, he’s been a bit erratic. He’s topped 20-points three times. Interestingly, those three games were all wins. The team is just 2-7 in games where he’s scored less than 20—or not played—since January 10. Those two wins came when he was not on the court.
Even without Gordon, the Rockets still have plenty of offense with James Harden having a typical dominant season and with other like Trevor Ariza, Clint Capela and Ryand Anderson chipping in, but there’s no doubt this team has an extra dynamic when Gordon is sinking shots on the outside.
Watch to see how he looks on the deep shot early.
Scheduling Situation
After a tiring four-overtime affair, the Hawks did get a couple days to recoup, but they are right back in the grind on Wednesday and then take on the Rockets on Thursday having to travel without a day off.
If any team can handle the situation, it’s Atlanta. The Hawks are actually a very good bet without a day off as they’ve covered the spread in seven of their 10 such previous situations. Straight up they boast the same impressive record.
On the other side, Houston has the standard one-day rest and are 18-13 ATS on one day’s rest. Given the team’s recent struggles, however, they may need a bit more than that to help get on track and back to the team that tallied 20 wins in 22 games.
Free NBA ATS Picks
It’s been a while, but Atlanta got the win when these two teams matched up in November as Millsap led the way and Dwight Howard had a pretty nice game, too.
Howard’s playing pretty well in the middle with five straight double-doubles. Look for the former Rocket to have motivation to do well once again against his former team and held the Hawks win the battle inside the paint.
Of course, Houston still has the edge on the outside with Harden. They’re also the home team and the team with the most rest, both must count for something, too.
The Rockets’ main struggles are on defense. They’re score and they’ll score at home. They’re still the second best offense in the sport after Golden State. Look for another high scoring affair. After all, they’ve allowed at least 118 points in four straight games.
Look for Houston to get the victory at home, but it won’t be easy.
NBA Odds: Houston 121, Hawks 116
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