Jeff Benton
Your Wednesday freebie is the Hawks to gain revenge on the Wizards.
On Monday night, Washington extended their winning streak to 5 in a row with a 117-102 win at the Philips Arena. Along the way, the Wizards stopped the Hawks 5 game winning streak.
As is the case in the NBA, very tough to sweep a home-and-home, and while the Wizards took it on the road to make their load a little easier tonight at home, I say it is the Hawks who get the job done on the road tonight.
Atlanta eliminated Washington from the playoffs last year, winning the final 3 games of that six game set. Overall, the Hawks are 5-2 straight up the last 7 series meetings versus Washington, and I will side with them tonight to split this home-and-home.
3* ATLANTA
Gabriel DuPont
Free play for tonight, as I look to improve on my 31-21 run with complimentary plays: Milwaukee at CLEVELAND (-11)
The STORYLINE in this game today - The Milwaukee Bucks are headed into the Q, to play the Cleveland Cavaliers, but if you need an update, don't follow LeBron James' Twitter account. Well, maybe he'll tweet, maybe he won't. He just won't follow back. I can't believe the main news item out of Cleveland was James' choice to unfollow a mass of Twitterers, but it was. And it's caused an uproar. The only uproar I see taking place is the Cavaliers winning big.
The X-FACTOR in making this choice on this game - King James has to be a key factor in this one, with this whole "I'm focusing on the team" phase. He can't let up, and needs to prove this is not some hokie move to attract attention. He will have the gas pedal pressed to the floor the rest of the season, and when it comes to inferior competition, he won't stand for mediocre play. He will be on top of his game here.
BOTTOM LINE is - James scored 33 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and dished 11 assists in Monday's 124-91 rout of Denver, as he looked just fine after the Cavaliers suffered that blowout loss to Miami two nights earlier. That loss to the Heat was an obvious wake-up call, and now the Cavaliers have to focus on the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed. The Bucks are 9-27 on the road as they come in after suffering their third loss in four games.
3* CLEVELAND