NBA: Frank picks Sixers vs Hawks, Raptors vs Nets, Rockets vs Clippers

Sixers (-3.5) @ Hawks (237)
Pick: Hawks +3.5
Save for a good first half in Minnesota on Saturday, the Sixers have shown little intensity on this late season road trip with their playoff fate already sealed. We’ve detailed their struggles against the number away from the city of brotherly love plenty and after sleepwalking to a 20-point defeat in Dallas on Monday, Philly is now 16-22 ATS on the road. Maybe the Sixers will come with some more juice tonight given they just lost in Atlanta a week and a half ago but laying points with the Sixers is asking for trouble right now. Could there be a message sent to the rest of the NBA heading into the playoffs? Sure. Is it likely to be tonight? No. Take a look at the Sixers schedule and you’ll see Milwaukee up next in Philadelphia tomorrow night. That’s the one that feels like your pre-playoff statement game. Plus, Atlanta is another one of those lottery teams that seems to be playing hard down the stretch. The Hawks are 5-5 in their last 10, which normally would be nothing to write home about but considering they’re 28-50 on the season it’s not so bad. More importantly, Atlanta’s covered seven of those 10 games and tonight makes eight of the last 11 games covered for the Hawks.

Raptors (-1.5) @ Nets (226)
Pick: Nets +1.5
We have polar opposite ends of the motivation spectrum in this one. Toronto is all but a lock to be the second seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs and Brooklyn continues to sit on the playoff bubble. The Nets have lost three of four and are just one game clear of the playoff cut line in the East with four games remaining. While the Raptors have still been winning games recently, most of those wins have been against lottery teams in the last couple weeks. There might be some angling here from Toronto given the Nets could be their playoff opponent in the first round. The way the Nets are going of late, the Raptors might rather see them as opposed to Detroit, Miami or Orlando. More than anything else though, we just expect Kenny Atkinson to rally the troops tonight and get a big win at home.

Rockets (-1.5) @ Clippers (229)
Pick: Over 229
This should be a fun one in the city of angels to close out the night in the NBA. Houston is trying to make a late push on the Nuggets for the second seed in the West after Denver got blown out again last night in Golden State. Sorry if you tailed us on the Denver pick by the way. The Clippers are a part of a jumbled Western Conference playoff picture below Houston. While it’s unlikely the Clippers will jump both Utah and Portland and open the playoffs at Staples Center, it’s a reason for them to play hard in this one. The Clippers have been a profitable team on overs this year with 41 of their 78 games having gone over the closing total. With this spread indicating a competitive game tonight, our guess is if we get a competitive game it will be a high-scoring affair. Both teams get to 115 here to get us over 229.