New York Knicks versus Atlanta Hawks Pick Prediction NBA Pro Basketball Lines Odds Preview 4-17-2013

The 44-37 Atlanta Hawks will be on a back to back as they face the 53-28 New York Knicks in an NBA pro basketball game on Wednesday night.

Tip off time from Madison Square Garden is scheduled for 8PM Eastern Time with national television coverage provided by the NBA League Pass Channel.

The NBA odds from this game will be out on Wednesday afternoon as the New York Knicks may rest several rotational players as they are locked in as a number two seed.

This is the third meeting of the year between the Hawks and Knicks with New York winning both games. Each team covered the point spread in their road game.

Atlanta has a road record of 19-21 on the current campaign. Their two game win streak was snapped on Monday after a 113-96 home defeat on Tuesday to the Toronto Raptors as a -5 point betting favorite. The game landed over 196 points. The Hawks fell behind 68-51 at the half in defeat. They shot just 39.8% from the floor and made 9 of 28 three pointers. Atlanta allowed the Raptors 51.3% shooting with 10 of 27 coming from three point range. The Hawks could not capitalize from 18 Raptors turnovers. Kyle Korver led Atlanta with 13 points as he made 5 of his 7 shots. The Hawks are tied with the Chicago Bulls for the fifth seed. Chicago owns the tiebreaker so for Atlanta to earn the fifth seed they must win and the Bulls lose on Wednesday. If Atlanta stays in the sixth seed they will face the Indiana Pacers this weekend in the playoffs. If they get to the fifth seed the Hawks will face the Brooklyn Nets. Atlanta will not have home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. The Hawks are a pretty good shooting team as they rank sixth in the NBA in both field goal and three point shooting. The issue with the Hawks has been consistency on defense. There are too many efforts like we saw on Tuesday night against the Raptors.

The Knicks are 30-10 playing at home. Their two game win streak was snapped on Monday in a 106-95 road defeat to the Charlotte Bobcats as a +1 ½ point underdog. The game ended over 191 ½ points. New York fell behind 30-17 after one period in defeat. They connected on 43% of their shots with 14 of 37 coming from three point distance. The Knicks gave up 58.1% shooting with 7 of 18 three pointers. New York had 12 less rebounds than the Bobcats. Chris Copeland led the Knicks with 32 points and seven rebounds as he made 12 of his 25 shots. New York was locked in the second seed of the Eastern conference heading into this game. They rested Carmelo Anthony and Raymond Felton as they get ready for their playoff series with the Boston Celtics with game one at home this weekend. New York has defended well this season allowing 95.8 points a game ranking seventh in scoring defense.