The NBA Three at 3 is back to take aim at a nine-game slate that features a Friday night showdown between the Philadelphia 76ers and Dallas Mavericks on ESPN.
1. Atlanta Hawks at Toronto Raptors - 7:30 p.m. ET
The Hawks are coming off an emotional home win over the Phoenix Suns, and they played that game in front of a packed house. Now, Atlanta has to go on the road and face a Toronto team that doesn't have fans in the arena, which could zap the team's energy a bit. The Raptors also happen to be an extremely rough matchup for the Hawks. While Trae Young is one of the best point guards in basketball, he's definitely at risk of getting outplayed by Fred VanVleet in this one. VanVleet, who just made the first All-Star game of his career, should be able to torch Young on offense in this one. Young is one of the league's worst defenders. Meanwhile, the Toronto guard is also a feisty defender and he's going to make Young work for everything in this one. On top of that, the Raptors are loaded on the wings, where Scottie Barnes, OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam are all excellent two-way players with serious length. Gary Trent Jr. is also on a roll for the Raptors, and he should bury some triples against a Hawks defense that can really struggle to get stops, at times. It also is worth mentioning that the Hawks are just 6-10 both straight-up and against the spread as road underdogs this year.
THE PICK: Raptors -2.5
2. Brooklyn Nets at Utah Jazz - 9:00 p.m. ET
The Jazz are going to have Donovan Mitchell back against the Nets tonight, but Utah is still going to be a bit outmatched against a Brooklyn team that has Kyrie Irving and James Harden. With the Jazz being without Rudy Gobert in this one, it's just hard to imagine Utah finding a way to prevent Brooklyn from getting to the basket in this one. The Nets should finish a lot of plays at the rim, but those two stars will also use their dribble penetration to create open looks for guys like Patty Mills and Kessler Edwards. Also, Nicolas Claxton could have a large impact on this game with Gobert not in the paint. The Nets youngster is a good rim protector himself and he has a lot of energy to help Brooklyn on the glass. Utah will really need Hassan Whiteside out there in order to combat that. The Jazz also happen to be just 8-17 against the spread at home on the year. That's not a great sign against a Nets team that will be desperate for a victory tonight.
THE PICK: Nets +6 (Harden is now OUT for Brooklyn)
3. Philadelphia 76ers at Dallas Mavericks - 10:00 p.m. ET
The Mavericks are 8-0 against the spread as home favorites of 6 or fewer points this season, and they've won those games by an average of 11.1 points per game. The team is also 28-15 against the spread when coming off a loss as a favorite over the last three seasons, so Dallas can be counted on to pick things up after a disappointing performance against Oklahoma City last game. The Mavericks are going to be without Kristaps Porzingis in this contest, but they're still more than capable of getting the win tonight. Dallas is fifth in the league in defensive rating on the year, and one of the team's specialities is its ability to close out on shooters. That's huge against a Philadelphia team that likes to play through Joel Embiid, who is very good at seeing double teams and finding his spot-up guys. Also, this is the type of game in which Jalen Brunson can really do some damage for the Mavericks. He'll be in attack mode in this game and that will help take pressure off of Luka Doncic, who has a tough matchup against Matisse Thybulle.
THE PICK: Mavericks -1.5
