2012 NBA Basketball Betting – Nuggets And Hawks Try To Find Consistency
The Denver Nuggets are coming off a very sluggish home-court win on Monday night. The Atlanta Hawks are coming off a bad home-court loss last Friday. Who has the edge?
Denver Nuggets @ Atlanta Hawks – Wednesday, December 5
Betting Line: Hawks -2 and the total is 199
Why Denver Will Win
No college football betting expert would deny the contention that the Atlanta Hawks are just not a team to be trusted with much of anything. The Hawks show dazzling talent at times, but they’re the flashy team that fails to be fundamentally sound long enough to prove itself as an enduring winner in the NBA.
When you go over your next sportsbook review, you will see that Atlanta is beginning to lose its edge. The Hawks were better in the first half of November, winning in Oklahoma City against the defending Western Conference champions. Now, they’re losing home games they have no business losing, performing the kind of face-plants that have gotten this team in trouble in the past. If Atlanta wants to be anything more than a team that will exit the playoffs in the first round (that’s what it did last year – lose in round one to the Boston Celtics), it has to get over the bad habits it displayed in a 113-111 loss to Cleveland this past Friday night. The Hawks were unfocused on defense, and since Cleveland is a team that is so dominated by backcourt play, the inability to flex their muscles near the rim should concern the Hawks as they move forward and take on a Denver squad that is very active and long at multiple positions on the floor. Is Atlanta ready to take charge of its season and display a tougher mindset? That’s always a hard question to answer for the Hawks, and that ‘s why they’re not an elite team, a team that should be able to handle Denver, but might not be able to do the deed on Wednesday night.
Why Atlanta Will Win
When people pursue a sport betting play, they have to look at the weaknesses on the opponent, not just a given team’s strengths. Online football betting gurus know this feeling – they’re aware of the need to pick one team not because you trust that team… but because you trust the opponent even less.
If Atlanta is drifting, Denver is slogging along in an even more uninspiring fashion. The Nuggets have split their last 10 games and are only 4-8 on the road, compared to a strong 5-1 home record. Moreover, the Nuggets are just not focused to this point in the season. They led the lousy Toronto Raptors – one of the worst teams in the NBA – by 17 points with 6:07 remaining in the fourth quarter on Monday night in Denver. Yet, they watched Toronto cut the lead to one possession before hanging on for a very narrow victory. Denver can’t go through the season like that, and now, following a cross-country flight to Georgia, will this team be mentally fresh? Don’t bet on it.
Who Will Win?
Atlanta is struggling, but Denver is struggling to an even greater degree. Take the Hawks not because they’re so special right now, but because the youthful Nuggets are still learning how to play together.
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NBA Betting Pick: Atlanta