Big NBA Games this Friday as the Celtics Head to Atlanta | IXGAMES

Friday, January 29th of 2010 is set to be a big night for the National Basketball Association.  A total of 12 games are scheduled for the night, including a number of great matchups, such as the Denver Nuggets visiting the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Memphis Grizzlies visiting the San Antonio Spurs, and the Portland Trailblazers visiting the Houston Rockets.  NBA fans will also be delighted to watch the games lined up for some of the fan favorites such as LeBron James and the Cavaliers as well as Kobe Bryant and the LA Lakers.  The Friday night matchup that we will be looking at in this article, however, is the one between the Boston Celtics and the Atlanta Hawks. The Boston Celtics visit the Atlanta Hawks In the 2008 Playoffs, the eighth-seeded Atlanta Hawks threatened to derail the top-seeded Boston Celtics in a seven-game series that would mark the beginning of Boston’s playoff journey to winning the 2008 NBA Championships.  It was a feud that reignited an old rivalry between the two franchises.  On the upcoming match, the rivalry will once again be renewed as the Celtics visit the Hawks.  Currently, these two teams are neck-and-neck in the Eastern Conference, with the Boston Celtics leading the Atlantic Division with a record of 29-13 and the Atlanta Hawks leading the Southeast Division with a record of 29-14. So, who should you bet on? Looking at the overall records and standings so far in the 2009-2010 NBA season, it would be hard to choose which team to bet on for the upcoming game on Friday night.  Taking a closer look at the teams’ past few games and their upcoming games, however, it seems as though the Atlanta Hawks may have a slight edge over the Celtics on Friday.  First of all, let’s take a look at the past ten games of each team.  The Boston Celtics are just breaking even, winning only five of their last ten games.  The Atlanta Hawks, on the other hand, are on a tier, winning eight of their last ten games.  Currently, the Hawks are soaring on a three-game winning streak to lead them into their next game against the San Antonio Spurs.  The Celtics are on a two-game winning streak and they will be facing the Orlando Magic next, which brings up another issue.  Will the Celtics still have enough energy to beat the high-energy, fast-paced offense of the Atlanta Hawks one night after a tough game against Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis, and the Magic?  Considering that the Hawks will not be playing a game on Thursday, they will probably have more gas in the tank to drive them to victory against the Celtics.  Another major issue that doesn’t bode well for the Celtics is that the Atlanta Hawks have beat the Celtics in all three of their meetings this season.  It seems that all of the odds and the trends are in favor of the Atlanta Hawks this Friday, so you may want to bulk up on your bets for the Hawks to take the win over the Celtics.