The Philadelphia 76ers just evened their series up with the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night by pulling away in the fourth quarter to log the 118-102 win and cover as 6.5-point favorites. Though Trae Young and company managed to earn the split in the City of Brotherly Love, they find themselves lined as short home underdogs at online sportsbooks for Game 3. That comes off as a bit surprising considering Atlanta held serve the only time it hosted the Sixers in the regular season, and it’ll enter Game 3 looking to take the series lead having rattled off 13 straight wins when in front of the hometown faithful. On top of that, the Hawks covered the closing NBA odds in all but two of those games! Making Atlanta even more attractive in this spot is the fact that it’s won outright six of the last nine times it caught points on its own hardwood; including each of the last three.
Game 3 of the best-of-seven series between the Philadelphia 76ers and Atlanta Hawks will tip-off on Friday, June 11, 2021 from the State Farm Arena. Take it in live on ESPN at 7:30 p.m. ET. We'll have NBA Playoff odds and player props available at BookMaker.eu for this and every game going on today’s NBA slate.
NBA Betting Lines at BookMaker.eu
Philadelphia 76ers -1.5
Atlanta Hawks +1.5
O/U 223
Odds Analysis
Before Game 2 even came to a close, I had Friday night’s tilt lined at a pick ‘em or Atlanta favored by a point; linemakers disagreed. I guess that’s why I get paid to write about the betting lines as opposed to setting them. Be that as it may, Philly hit the board as 1.5-point favs after winning the second game of the series by 16 points. You have to go all the way back to May 5 to find the last time Nate McMillan’s squad caught points in its own house. They destroyed the Phoenix Suns in that game by a 135-103 final count as 1-point underdogs; sound familiar? The Sixers were moneymakers at home all season long (22-13-1 ATS), but that wasn’t the case on the road where they went 20-16 SU and 16-17-3 ATS in the regular season and split a pair at Washington in the first round. The Sixers partook in one game this season when installed a 1-2 point road favorite and defeated the New York Knicks 101-100 to settle for the push.
Philadelphia 76ers
Through two games, Philly has had no issue whatsoever putting points on the board against Atlanta’s defense. The series opener saw the offense convert at a 55 percent clip and in the process hit 10 of 29 shots from beyond the arc. The problem was that the defense had no answers for the Hawks scorching hot three point shooting (20/37). The rematch on Tuesday night also saw Philadelphia shoot better than 50 percent from the field. Only this time, they were even more efficient from beyond the arc (12/26) while the defense forced 17 turnovers and held Atlanta to 46 percent. So much for the knee injury that was going to hamper Joel Embiid’s effectiveness throughout this series with the big man averaging 39.5 points, 11 rebounds 3 assists and 2 blocks per game!
Atlanta Hawks
Try as he did, Young needed more from his teammates for the Hawks to go into the Wells Fargo Center and take a shocking 2-0 series lead. For a moment there however, it looked like Atlanta just might pull it off after taking their first lead of the game with a couple minutes remaining in the third quarter. It was all Philadelphia from there however with it going on to outscore the Hawks 27-18 in the fourth quarter to send this series to the “ATL” tied at a game apiece. The Hawks all-star guard has simply been sensational throughout the postseason in averaging 28.9 points and dishing off an average of 10 assists per game. He did however fail to surpass the 30 point plateau in both home games against the Knicks, so he’ll likely be looking to put on a show in this one. With that, I’d highly entertain the thought of hitting the over on all of his player props.
Philadelphia vs. Atlanta Prediction
The Hawks have been incredibly kind to the bankroll over the course of the playoffs, and I have no intention of jumping ship in this third go-round with the Sixers. While Philadelphia has proven it can pretty much do as it pleases offensively, Atlanta has played right alongside them for seven of the eight played quarters. Philly’s home/road dichotomy also leaves some cause for concern if you plan on laying the road chalk in Game 3. It however wouldn’t surprise me in the least if Atlanta closed the short chalk. Regardless, I want as much of the Hawks, over and Trae Young props as I can get when these teams lock horns for the third time on Friday night.
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