Boston has been bad at home, but sports a winning ATS road record. The spot and matchup set up well for the Celtics to keep this game extremely competitive.

The Hawks rolled past Charlotte, 105-75, at home this past Saturday. Atlanta had a revenge motive in that matchup after falling to the Hornets in triple overtime on Nov. 7. The Hawks have an important Southeast Division road matchup on Wednesday against Miami. So this matchup is a letdown spot for them.

The Hawks have covered less than 20 percent the past 31 times when playing on two day's rest. This angle has merit because it falls squarely during the two-year coaching reign of Mike Budenholzer.

Speaking of Budenholzer, he was an assistant coach to Gregg Popovich and the Spurs before taking the Hawks job. The Hawks are very similar to the Spurs in the plays and offense they run. The Celtics just faced the Spurs this past Sunday at home. So they should be well prepared. Note, too, that Budenholzer was not at practice on Tuesday because of illness.

The Celtics got buried against the Spurs, but the Hawks are several tiers lower than the Spurs. The Celtics match up much better to Atlanta because they are competitive size-wise and can compete on the boards. The Hawks rank 27th in rebounds per game.

Boston has dropped four in a row. Those defeats, however, came to the Grizzlies, Trail Blazers, Bulls with Derrick Rose and Spurs. Those teams are all better than Atlanta.