- The Atlanta Hawks’ championship odds have slumped to 250-1 after losing to the Miami Heat on Monday.
- With the win, the Heat have taken a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven first round playoff series.
- 92.9% of the teams that take a 2-0 lead in the NBA playoffs have gone on to win the series.
The Atlanta Hawks entered the 2021-22 NBA season hoping to repeat last season’s playoff success. But this season has been anything but impressive for the Hawks.
They barely made it to the playoffs and needed to win two play-in tournament games just to get here. Two games into their first-round series against the East top seed Miami Heat, the Hawks are down 0-2.
The Jimmy Butler Take Over
Jimmy Butler TAKES OVER with 45 PTS, 5 REB, 5 AST, 2 STL on 60% FG as the Miami Heat beat the Atlanta Hawks to take a 2-0 SERIES LEAD! pic.twitter.com/ViaKBQnPTM
— Basketball Forever (@Bballforeverfb) April 20, 2022
Unlike Game 1 where the Heat trashed them 115-91, the Hawks were very much in the thick of the fight in Game 2. The Heat led by just one after one and two at the end of two. And after the Heat threatened to blow the game wide open in the third, the Hawks came roaring back to cut the lead to 104-101 on a Bogdan Bogdanovic three-pointer with still 3:15 left to play. But then it was all Jimmy Butler from there.
Jimmy Butler scored the next seven points of the game in the ensuing minute to turn a one-possession game into a double-digit lead which the Heat would hold on to until the final buzzer. Butler would finish the game with a playoff career-high 45 points on 15-25 field goal shooting, including 4-7 from deep, and 11-12 from the foul line, easily cashing the over on his scoring prop bet which stood at 22.5 points and his measly 0.5 three-point prop
With the win, the Heat are now up 2-0 in their best-of-seven series. Although the series shifts to Atlanta for the next two games, the Hawks are in a tough position. In the history of the NBA playoffs, 92.9% of the teams that go up 2-0 in a best-of-seven series have gone on to win the series.
Atlanta Title Odds Down to 250-1
Hawks down 0-2.
Atlanta 250-1 to win NBA Championship.
Anyone?
— John Ewing ? (@johnewing) April 20, 2022
Not that they were on top of the odds boards before Tuesday night but the Hawks saw their title odds fall to 250-1 after joining the Raptors and Nuggets as the teams that head to Game 3 with a 0-2 deficit. Among the three teams, however, the Hawks have the longest title odds right now with Denver listed at +12500 and Toronto at +15000 via BetMGM.
The Hawks have also faded to +25000 at the FD Sportsbook, Caesars Sportsbook, Borgata Online, Unibet, and Bet365 USA. Atlanta is currently listed at +24000 via MyBookie.ag and the DK Sportsbook. Meanwhile, Barstool Sportsbook has Atlanta’s shortest title odds at +20000. Regardless of their price, Atlanta is now third from the bottom among the 16 remaining teams in the postseason.
Interestingly, the team with the longest title odds is the New Orleans Pelicans who are listed at +50000 at most of the top NBA betting sites. A little ahead of the Pels are the Chicago Bulls who are also at the +25000 to +30000 odds range. New Orleans stunned top-seeded Phoenix also on Wednesday to tie their series at 1-1 while the Bulls are down 1-0 to the Bucks and play Game 2 on Wednesday night. Meanwhile, Atlanta fights for its life on Friday as two-point home underdogs.
