Atlanta Hawks vs Charlotte Hornets

Charlotte hasn't been winning many games outright, but the Hornets are still getting the money as they have been 5-1 ATS in their past six games while coming off two close losses to Miami and New York. Jalen Brunson hit two free throws with 8.6 seconds left to give the Knicks a narrow victory over the Hornets on Friday. Charlotte has been 7-1 ATS in its past eight home games, and Atlanta has been 1-6 ATS in the past seven meetings. After stunning the Cavaliers twice in a row, the Hawks are in a classic letdown situation. They won last night 117-101 while shooting 52 percent and making 14 of 34 3-point tries. Atlanta will be hard-pressed to match those numbers on consecutive nights. Charlotte has covered four straight versus teams with losing records. Take the Hornets.

The Charlotte Hornets will look to improve upon their 21-61 mark from a year ago. Not much went right for this team, as they finished just 11-30 on their homecourt. LaMelo Ball missed a lot of games with an ankle injury, and a healthy Ball, along with Brandon Miller who was a bright spot as the No. 2 overall pick. Miller averaged 17.3ppg. Tidjane Salaun will add some young talent as he was the No. 6 pick in the draft. Ball missed 60 games a year ago but the young talent is there. Atlanta finished 36-46 last year. Anyone who saw Atlanta realized the problem was the defense. They made a lot of changes, but their opener against the not so talented Nets was a struggle allowing 116 points. It may take some time, but if this team doesn't get a defensive mindset nothing is going to change. Make the play on Charlotte.

The Charlotte Hornets franchise has become a mess. They have completed a season above .500 (including playoff games) just three times since 2004, and enter this game a disappointing 19-60. Whem a poor team gets late in the season they typically have improved somewhat, but the opponents tend to take a breath and not bring their "A" game, or use it as an opportunity to rest a starter or two. That has allowed the Hornets to cover five of their last eight. The Hawks have sealed a play-in game as the 10th and final seed so they should play this one with minimal effort. I think the line does not reflect that, and I will back Charlotte.