On Friday, the Three at 3 is back with a look at an exciting NBA slate that features an ESPN doubleheader in which the Charlotte Hornets host the Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks face the Milwaukee Bucks. However, with a little uncertainty surrounding the status of stars in those games, we're keying in on some others.
1. Boston Celtics at Atlanta Hawks - 7:30 p.m. ET
It's never exactly easy to go into Atlanta and come away with a win, but the Celtics have a legitimate shot of doing so tonight. On the year, Atlanta is just 6-16 against the spread when playing against teams with winning records, and the team has lost those games by an average of 4.7 points per game. And while the Hawks have won their last five games, the Celtics have won their last two games by a total of 82 points. Boston is really starting to play some good basketball lately, as the team is moving the ball a little better and making quicker decisions. Now, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown will look to handle business against a Hawks team that isn't as good as the Celtics on the wing. Boston will also throw Marcus Smart on Trae Young in this game, and there's a good chance he'll get under the skin of Atlanta's point guard. The Hawks also won by 11 when these teams met earlier in the year, but this improved Celtics team will be out for revenge.
THE PICK: Celtics +2
2. Denver Nuggets at New Orleans Pelicans - 8:00 p.m. ET
The Pelicans are getting a decent amount of points at home tonight and they should be getting Brandon Ingram back from an ankle injury. Ingram hasn't played in a week with that injury, but he has been looking good in shootarounds and was upgraded to questionable in this game. With Ingram, it's not hard to envision the Pelicans pulling off an upset here. While Nikola Jokic is one of the best players in basketball right now, Jonas Valanciunas is going to really battle him in the paint in this one. Meanwhile, it's not like Denver's supporting cast is all that much better than New Orleans' right now. The Nuggets are still without Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr., and the team has just been relying too heavily on Jokic all year. That makes it difficult on this team to play up to expectations on the road, as lesser role players are at their best at home. That's part of the reason Denver is just 10-15 against the spread away from home this year. Meanwhile, the Pelicans are 14-6 against the spread when coming off a game that went Over the total this season.
THE PICK: Pelicans +4.5
3. Chicago Bulls at San Antonio Spurs - 8:30 p.m. ET
The Bulls have won two in a row coming into this game, but they are still just 4-7 straight-up and 5-6 against the spread in their last 11 games. Chicago is also going to be missing both Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso in this game, and those are the two best perimeter defenders the Bulls have to offer. That's rather significant when facing this Spurs team, as Dejounte Murray, Derrick White and Lonnie Walker are all capable of having big games on the offensive end. San Antonio can also throw Devin Vassell on either DeMar DeRozan or Zach LaVine in this one, as Vassell is an excellent wing defender. On top of that, the Spurs will have Jakob Poeltl on Nikola Vucevic. Poeltl is one of the best defenders in the entire league, so this is just a good matchup for this San Antonio team. It also doesn't hurt that Gregg Popovich coached DeRozan the last few seasons, so he'll know how to defend him. And if that's not enough, Chicago is just 28-44 against the spread in games with spreads of +3 to -3 over the last three seasons.
THE PICK: Spurs -1
