I'm going out on a limb here and taking Washington outright because there's something to be said for how difficult it can be to beat the same team twice in succession, particularly in the NBA. That's the spine of this play. Think about how quickly the narrative has changed too. Just two days ago, the revamped Wizards were being touted as a team that could finally end Atlanta's three-game winning streak in this series. The Hawks initially opened as underdogs before jumping the fence to become 1.5-point favorites, ultimately crashing the party in Washington with a convincing 15-point victory. Now the scene shifts to Atlanta, and suddenly another Hawks victory looks like a foregone conclusion. But is it really that simple?
We're talking about an NBA Cup matchup, where the circumstances are different and anything can happen. The market has reacted aggressively to Atlanta's victory to where Washington is catching a substantial price. That's precisely what interests me. The Wizards haven't suddenly become an entirely different basketball team because they lost one game by 15 points. Yet the market is asking us to pay considerably more to back them than it was just two days ago. I repeat, the Wizards were favored in D.C. initially. I remember because I backed the Hawks on the Money Line. Bottom line: the spot, the immediate rematch and the market reaction create an opportunity that I'm perfectly happy to exploit. Wizards outright.
Wizards vs Hawks prediction: Washington Wizards +223 (ML) available at time of writing. Playable to +200.
