Houston Rockets at Atlanta Hawks (-7, 206.5)
Are the Hawks the deepest team in the Association? Mike Woodson’s club goes nine strong and he can find just about anything from his grab bag bench.
Combo guard Jamal Crawford is a natural scorer, Zaza Pachulia does the dirty work in the paint, Joe Smith is a veteran post player and Maurice Evans is a great slasher.
Critics claim this squad doesn’t play enough of a team game. The offense centers on one-on-one play and isolation schemes. But you can’t argue with the results: Atlanta is 10-2 straight up and 11-1 against the spread.
“We’ve got the depth we need,” Josh Smith told reporters following the Hawks’ 105-90 win over Miami on Wednesday night. “We treat each possession as precious because we know we’ve got something good going here…. It’s just beautiful basketball right now.”
The Rockets' perimeter defenders match up well against Joe Johnson and Marvin Williams, but seven points doesn’t seem like enough respect for the top dog in the East right now.
Pick: Hawks -7
Washington Wizards at Oklahoma City Thunder (-2.5, 193.5)
The Wizards welcomed back Antawn Jamison in a big way Wednesday night. The All-Star forward’s performance was pivotal in Washington’s win over Cleveland.
“Me coming back and just trying to stop the bleeding a little bit, we found a way to pull it off,” Jamison, who scored 31 points and grabbed 10 boards, told the Washington Times.
The victory ended a six-game skid for the Wiz. There’s good reason to think the club can string together a little win streak with Jamison back in the lineup. He brings post scoring and spreads the floor for outside shooters like Mike Miller and Gilbert Arenas.
The Thunder are limping back home after a rough four-games-in-five-nights stretch. Oklahoma City forward Jeff Green doesn’t seem to have the same explosiveness since he dinged up his hip against the Clippers. Green is averaging just 10.3 points 2.3 rebounds over the last three games.
Pick: Wizards +2.5