Hawks vs Lakers Free NBA Basketball Predictions

After their annual, extended Grammy road trip, the (16-12, Home: 11-2) Los Angeles Lakers [-5½] return home tonight to host the Atlantic Division’s second place team, the (18-10, Road: 9-5) Atlanta Hawks [+5½].

This Free NBA Basketball Predictions game is set to tipoff tonight at 10:30 PM ET live from the STAPLES Center in Downtown LA, and it’ll be broadcasted live on SPSO and/or FSW-LAL. The Lakers went 3-3 in their latest road trip, brining their record away from the home to a disappointing 5-10.

“We are a poor road team and that is what we need to turn around,” said the NBA’s leading scorer, Kobe Bryant. “If we could figure out a way to win on the road our record would be much, much better. We are a very good home team.”

Trailing the Clippers by 2 games, much of the talk in Tinseltown this week has been about the possibility of signing controversial point guard, Gilbert Arenas. While the Lakers were on the road, the 30-year-old Arenas held a private workout with Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchack as well as Golden State Warriors’ consultant and former Laker great, Jerry West.

According to those close to the situation, Arenas looked to be in fine shape, as he allegedly moved well and made a “positive impression” on the Lakers. Will the Lakers sign Arenas in the coming days and couple him with Dwight Howard after the All-Star break? Wouldn’t that be something? For tonight’s game against ATL, NBA odds makers have set the OVER/UNDER mark at a combined total of 178 points.

For the Hawks, they come into this game sitting in the second place in the division, 3½ games behind the Miami Heat. Atlanta is 9-5 on the road this season, but have struggled of late, splitting its final 10 games. The Hawks suffered one of their worst loses of the season on Sunday night, as Miami’s Big Three dished out an embarrassing 20-point thrashing in front of their home fans.

“We just didn’t compete. You can’t have that in this league,” Joe Johnson said after falling 107-87 to the Heat. “You would think everyone would come out prepared to battle for 48 minutes, but it seems as if we just didn’t want it.”

The Hawks are sure to come out and want to win this game tonight against the Lakers. Although LA has struggled against teams with winning records, I believe coming back home should serve this team well, especially after earning a split of what was a tough road trip. I like the Lakers to come out and utilize their size advantage over the Hawks by establishing Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol early on.

The Purple and Gold should jump out to a significant lead before halftime. However, having the killer instinct to put teams away when they’re down has been a problem for the Lakers this season. This 5½ NBA point spread is very accurate, but in the end I see Kobe and the Lakers coming away victorious by about 10 points this evening. Want more free NBA basketball picks? Check out how our experts predict tonight’s slate of NBA action will play out. All you have to do is sign up to get Free NBA Basketball Picks right now!