Hawks Magic Betting Series – Rested Magic Will Oust Hawks
The Milwaukee Bucks pushed the Atlanta Hawks to a seven-game series, which makes most online betting cappers feel that this Magic-Hawks series will be a short one. The Hawks are improved though and should be more ready for the second round this year than they were last year. Don’t be surprised if this series goes five or six games.
The Story
The Magic were the first team to finish their first round series while the Hawks were the last. Rest will come into play for Game 1 as the Magic have been recuperating for a while and the Hawks just finished on Sunday.
Even so, this series has the eerie feeling that it will be a little bit more of a challenge for the Magic than most think. The Bucks stifled the Hawks because of matchups and while the Magic will eventually do the same, don’t be surprised if the Hawks protect their home court in Games 3 and 4 and make this series more interesting than expected.
Hawks vs Magic: Better Starters?
The Magic have the better starting rotation as they have more experience, better players, more consistency and more versatility.
The main advantage the Magic should have is at point guard, where Jameer Nelson could really expose the aging Mike Bibby. Bibby has grown slow and while he’s still a clutch shooter and a good passer, he’s slowed down quite a bit this season.
Along with Nelson, the Magic have Vince Carter, Matt Barnes, Rashard Lewis and Dwight Howard in their starting five, which pretty much gives them the edge at every position.
The Hawks counter with Joe Johnson, Marvin Williams, Josh Smith and Al Horford. Horford versus Howard will be the key matchup, but Howard dominated him in the regular season and sportsbook odds makers are expecting more of the same in the playoffs.
Edge: MagicHawks vs Magic: Better Bench?
Even though they have the sixth man of the year, Jamal Crawford, the Hawks again have the short end of the stick here.
Jeff Teague, Mo Evans, Zaza Pachulia and Joe Smith simply don’t matchup. Their forward will get tested as Howard will rack up the fouls on the Hawks front lines, but the Hawks simply don’t have any good depth off the bench besides Crawford.
Meanwhile, Orlando has some scoring in Mikael Pietrus and J.J. Redick, and a decent forward rotation with Marcin Gortat and Brandon Bass.
The Magic depth could be a big edge here too.
Edge: Magic
Hawks vs Magic: X-Factor?
For the Hawks, the x-factor has to be Howard’s foul trouble. They have to find a way to get him on the bench as the Charlotte Bobcats did, even though it didn’t help them much. The Hawks were spanked in three of the four regular season meetings and the result will likely be the same unless they figure out how to slow Howard.
For the Magic, their x-factor is Vince Carter. As long as he’s hot and contributing – and he should be since the Hawks don’t play much defense – the Magic are going to be very hard to beat with their inside-outside game. NBA betting fans know that the Magic have serious edges everywhere and if Carter is on his game, that further minimizes the Hawks chances.
Who’s Gonna Win?
Sports betting fans can see the odds and it’s not real pretty. The Hawks chances are not great.
Not only did they need seven games to dispose of the Andrew Bogut-less and Michael Redd-less Bucks, but they were also crushed in three of the first four meetings with the Magic this year (until the last meeting, which Orlando didn’t really try for at the end of the year). In those three contests, the Magic won by an average of 22 points per game.
The Magic have the talent, the experience and home court. That means they are advancing.
