4* NBA ABSOLUTE SMASH

Indiana vs. Atlanta, 02/08/2012 19:30 EDT, Score: 87 - 97

Point Spread: -3/-110 Atlanta

Sportsbook: BookMaker

Result: Win

This is the perfect spot to jump on the Hawks as a small home favorite. Atlanta heads into tonight's game against the Pacers off three straight home losses, and you can bet they will be extremely motivated to make sure they don't finish their homestand with another loss. Adding fuel to the fire is the fact that the Pacers handed the Hawks a 12-point loss at Indiana earlier this season.

Not to take anything away from Indiana, but this figures to be a tough spot for the Pacers. They just got done playing a high-scoring affair with the Jazz last night, and have to be pretty sick of traveling. This is the Pacers 9th road game over their last 12 games. It's also a spot in which the Pacers have struggled in the past, as they are just 9-19 ATS in road games after playing a home game over the last 2 seasons and a miserable 4-14 ATS in road games when playing on back-to-back days over the last 2 seasons.

During the Hawks struggles they have failed to cover the spread in each of their last three games and five of their last seven overall. No one wants to bet on a team that hasn't been covering, and as a result the oddsmakers must overvalue the other team. Atlanta is 16-4 ATS after failing to cover 5 or 6 of their last 7 against the spread over the last 2 seasons. BET THE HAWKS!