NBA Betting: Slumping Hawks Still Have Edge for No. 8 Seed in East
by Bovada Sportsbook Staff | April 4, 2014
What’s with all the excitement over clinching the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference? All that does is likely mean a very quick postseason exit against the NBA championship-favored Miami Heat.
However, the New York Knicks are making things interesting at the bottom of the East.
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Entering play Friday, the Knicks are technically tied for the final Eastern playoff spot. The Hawks have one fewer win than New York but also one fewer loss so two games in hand. Atlanta is 1/5 at Bovada to make the playoffs and 3/1 to miss it. The Knicks are 3/1 to make it and 1/5 to miss.
The remaining schedule appears to favor Atlanta, which has lost seven of eight. The Hawks host Cleveland and visit struggling Indiana to close out this week. That latter game will have Live Betting at the book; the Pacers lead the season series 2-1 and all have been close. This is Atlanta’s slate after that: against Detroit, against Boston, at Brooklyn, versus Miami, versus Charlotte and at Milwaukee. The Pistons, Celtics and Bucks are three of the worst teams in the NBA. The Nets, Heat and Bobcats are all playoff-bound but could have nothing to play for by then with possible playoff seeding already locked up.
Atlanta hasn’t missed the playoffs since the 2006-07 season. Yet if current GM Danny Ferry has his way, the Hawks will this year. Ferry knows his team has no shot against Miami so he would rather Atlanta find its way into the lottery with the slight chance of winning it and landing a franchise-changing talent like Kansas’ Joel Embiid and Andrew Wiggins or Duke’s Jabari Parker, assuming all three declare for the draft (Wiggins already has).
"Our goal is not to be the eighth seed," Ferry said recently. “We’re trying to build something that’s good, sustainable."
The Knicks absolutely want to make the playoffs and doing so could save coach Mike Woodson’s job, or at least extend it a week or two. Woodson is widely expected to be fired by new team president Phil Jackson after the season barring a shocking postseason run. Jackson reportedly already has targeted one of his former Bulls players, Steve Kerr, as Woodson’s replacement.
New York has won 12 of 15 entering Friday’s home game against Washington. The Knicks visit the Heat in a potential first-round preview Sunday; TV executives would love that playoff matchup. Sunday’s game also will have Live Betting at the book. Miami leads the season series 2-1, with all three games ending by double-digit margins.
After the Heat, the Knicks finish up this way: at Toronto, versus Chicago, at Brooklyn and versus Toronto. Those are all playoff teams.
Should New York and Atlanta finish tied, the first tiebreaker is head-to-head. That finished with a 2-2 split. The next would be each team’s record inside the Eastern Conference. New York enters the weekend at 22-24 against the East and Atlanta 22-22 so this could go down to the final day of the season.
