Don’t count out the Nets just yet. Brooklyn put forth a tremendous performance in Game 3 to cut the Atlanta Hawks’ series lead to 2-1. The Nets will look to knot the best-of-seven matchup at two games apiece when the two sides meet again in Game 4 this coming Monday.
Who will emerge victorious in this pivotal showdown? Read on below for a breakdown of this critical game and while you’re at it, you can check out our preview of Game 5 between Chicago and Milwaukee here.
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Atlanta Hawks vs. Brooklyn Nets Preview
Series Scores & Schedule
Game 1 — April 19 – Brooklyn Nets 92 at Atlanta Hawks 99
Game 2 — April 22 – Brooklyn Nets 91 at Atlanta Hawks 96
Game 3 — April 25 – Atlanta Hawks 83 at Brooklyn Nets 91
Game 4 — April 27, 7:00 PM ET, Atlanta Hawks (-4) at Brooklyn Nets (+4); total: 195.5 – view all NBA lines
Game 5 — April 29, Time TBD, Brooklyn Nets at Atlanta Hawks
Game 6* — May 1, Time TBD, Atlanta Hawks at Brooklyn Nets
Game 7* — May 3, Time TBD, Brooklyn Nets at Atlanta Hawks
* if necessary
Betting on the Atlanta Hawks
The road to the NBA Finals was never meant to be easy. The top-seeded Hawks found that out on Saturday as Atlanta suffered its first defeat of the 2015 NBA Playoffs with a 91-83 loss to the Brooklyn Nets in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference First Round series.
[sc:NBA240banner ]Many were expecting the Hawks to follow their other Eastern counterparts and take a commanding 3-0 lead in this series as well. That wasn’t to be the case as the Hawks struggled mightily on the offensive end. The Hawks shot just 32-of-90 from the field in Game 3 for a measly 35.6 percent clip.
Kyle Korver and Al Horford, vital cogs to Atlanta’s success this season, both had terrible off-shooting nights. Korver only scored two points on Saturday, going 0-for-5 from beyond the arc. Horford, on the other hand, scored just seven points on 3-of-12 shooting from the field. That’s a far cry from their averages of 19 and 12 points respectively in the first two games.
For the Hawks to prevail in Game 4, they need to do a much better job of sharing the basketball. For the first time in this series, the Hawks lost to the Nets in the assists department (24-22). The onus is on point guard Jeff Teague to get his teammates involved in the next game. He’s averaging five assists per game in this series.
A lone positive from their Game 3 defeat was the excellent performance of DeMarre Carroll. He scored a playoff career-high 22 points on a sizzling 9-of-12 shooting from the field. Carroll is having a solid series, averaging 13.7 points and 7.3 rebounds in the first three games.
The Hawks are 2-7 SU and 2-6-1 ATS in their last nine road games.
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Betting on the Brooklyn Nets
There’s still some fight left with the Brooklyn Nets.
The eighth-seeded Nets proved the doubters wrong, beating the Hawks in Game 3 to trim the series deficit to just one game. It was a huge victory for the Nets who finally beat the Hawks for the first time in seven attempts this season.
Key to their shock win Saturday was their excellent play on the defensive end. Much of the credit should go to Brook Lopez who was outstanding inside the shaded area for Nets. The Hawks shot just 1-of-17 on the shots that Lopez contested in Game 3, including 0-for-8 when shooting at the rim.
It wasn’t just Lopez, though, who excelled for the Nets defensively. The Nets’ perimeter defense was also on cue in this game. They held the Hawks to just 6-of-30 shooting from beyond the arc. In fact, premier gunner Kyle Korver went just 1-of-8 from the field and was 0-for-5 from downtown. That was his most three-point attempts without a make in any game this season.
Lopez also produced on the other end of the floor, recording his second double-double of the series on Saturday. He scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in 42 productive minutes. Helping him out in the offensive chores were Bojan Bogdanovic and Thaddeus Young. They scored 19 and 18 points, respectively, in this game.
Only one starter failed to score in double-figures for the Nets and that was struggling guard Deron Williams. After shooting 1-for-7 in Game 2, Williams had another disappointing performance in Game 3, scoring just three points on 1-of-8 shooting from the floor.
Head coach Lionel Hollins will have to make a decision on whether to continue starting with Williams especially with the Nets playing well without him in Game 3. The Nets unleashed a killer 18-0 run bridging the third and fourth quarters with Williams sitting on the bench so it would be interesting to see if the Nets’ rotations will change in Game 4.
One player who can step up for the Nets is Jarrett Jack. He was the catalyst for the Nets’ game-winning run on Saturday, putting up five points, eight rebounds and five assists. The Nets were plus-17 with Jack in the lineup in Game 3. He scored a total of 36 points on 14-of-21 shooting in the first two games of this series.
The Nets are 8-2 SU and 7-2-1 ATS in their last 10 home games.
Writer’s Prediction
Atlanta (-4) wins, 97-92, to go 3-1 up in the series.
