Atlanta Hawks vs Philadelphia 76ers Prediction: Sixers to win

The Hawks have lost three of their last four regular-season games to the Sixers, and the bookmakers now rate the teams' chances of winning as roughly equal. Will Atlanta be able to slightly improve their head-to-head stats?

The Hawks do not boast the same roster depth as in the previous two seasons, when, for instance, it was difficult to choose between Bogdanovic, Cam Reddish and Kevin Huerter. The only other player left on the team is Bogdanovic, who is injured. The coach has to look for his internal reserves and try young recruits: AJ Griffin and Jalen Johnson have been on the floor more and more lately. Trae Young continues to paint himself with nice stats and low efficiency: 27.6 points and 9.4 assists to go along with 37.8% shooting from the field doesn't look very impressive. The good news is that Dejounte Murray is still a useful offensive rebounder and has added to his solid defense at the arc.

Nate McMillan's squad lost at home to Utah with a score of 119-125 in their last regular season game. That snapped Atlanta's three-game winning streak, and the Hawks are now fourth in the East. Young only managed to score 10 of 28 from the field while shooting a solid 40% from beyond the arc, and it didn't even help that four other starting five players scored a combined 78 points and each hit more than half of their shot attempts. Ironically, the three-pointers made absolutely no sense on that night, but even so, the game was unusually productive.

The Sixers played two games without James Harden, and over the next month the team will try to make up for the absence of one of their biggest stars. It's too early to draw any conclusions about how Philadelphia is coping with the loss, although there are still some problems on offense. Joel Embiid only recently returned, and he's largely responsible for the Sixers' 100-88 home win over the Suns. The Cameroonian center added 10 rebounds and 5 assists to his 33 points. Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris didn't play their best, making 11 of 36 shots overall, but at least Toby made 3 3-pointers. The 76ers' leading scorer on the night was Georges Niang, who made 7 shots from beyond the arc and scored 21 points. Thanks to the victory over Phoenix Philadelphia climbed up to the 7th place in the Eastern Conference, 3 other teams are on par with them.

Philadelphia can seriously pump up their offensive game compared to the game against Phoenix. Well, at least Tyrese Maxey can hardly play worse anymore. Trae Young is not known for his defensive skills, and Dejounte Murray will have to strain more when guarding the same Maxey. Either way, the Sixers' role players will have some free space; all that's left to do is not screw up. Joel Embiid is in good shape and will be difficult to stop under the basket. At the same time, Atlanta is playing very fast basketball and the Hawks' output is already growing thanks to a large number of possessions. Here are the betting options:

• TO (221.5) for 1.86;
• W2 (incl. OT) for 1.95;
• H2 (-5.5) for 2.70.

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