Boston Celtics vs Atlanta Hawks Odds, Pick, Prediction | NBA Betting Preview (Thursday, March 28)

Here's everything you need to know about Celtics vs. Hawks on Thursday, Mar. 28 — our expert prediction and betting picks for today's game.

The Boston Celtics travel to Atlanta to face the Hawks in a rematch of Monday night's epic comeback.

The Hawks were down 30 points, but came storming back behind an energetic home crowd and beat Boston 120-118.

As always, monitor the injury report, but as of now, Al Horford (toe), Xavier Tillman (knee) and Jrue Holiday (shoulder) are questionable.

Dejounte Murray was on the injury report Wednesday, but ended up playing. He’s absent from any reports right now, but that could always change with the Hawks playing a back-to-back.

One of the biggest criticisms against the Celtics has been their late-game offense breaking down in clutch situations. Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum have received most of the flak for being unable to take over late in games, and their detractors were validated on Monday.

As the game grew closer, Boston continued to keep the pace slow and made mental errors.

The Celtics put forth a concerning performance, but are still an undeniable force in the East. I expect them to come out with some vengeance on Thursday night.

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Murray will be the key in this game. He was questionable ahead of the Hawks win against the Trailblazers on Wednesday, but ended up playing.

That win over Portland gave Atlanta its third-straight victory and marks just the fifth time the Hawks have won that many consecutive games this season. What’s more, they’ve only won four straight twice this season, and one of those stretches came at the beginning of the season, from Oct. 29 to Nov. 4.

I don’t see Atlanta coming out with much fire in this game. We could see Murray sit, but even if he plays, the Hawks are on a back-to-back and playing their fourth game in six nights.

I’ll take the Celtics in the first half as they should be motivated after Monday's epic collapse. On top of being a great first-half team, Boston is an outstanding first-half team following a loss, going 10-4 ATS this season and 22-12 under coach Joe Mazzulla. I think we'll see Boston race out to a double-digit first-half lead.

If I’m wrong, it could present a good opportunity to take Boston in the live betting market. The Celtics have the rest advantage and the Hawks are already a bad second-half team, despite their epic comeback. This season, Atlanta is just 21-38-12 ATS in the second half.

Follow me in the Action Network app and on Twitter (@nbaWatts) to see how I play this live market.

Pick: Celtics 1H -8 | Look to Live Bet Boston at Half

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