Hawks aim to wrap up East's No. 3 seed in Milwaukee

Basketball Betting Lines

04/12/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A win tonight would lock up the East's No. 3 seed for the Atlanta Hawks, who will pay a visit to the playoff-bound Milwaukee Bucks tonight at the Bradley Center.

Atlanta is a game ahead of Boston for the third spot in the conference standings and swept the season series from the Celtics, 4-0. It has won two straight and three of five games, and ended a six-game road losing streak with Saturday's 105-95 victory at Washington behind Jamal Crawford's team-high 28 points off the bench.

"There's always a moment of truth in a game, where one team's going to step up and take control of the game," Crawford said. "So if we can do that a little bit earlier and not put ourselves in tight situations toward the end, I think that would help us."

Joe Johnson added 20 points and Josh Smith added 10 and eight assists for the Hawks, who will close out the regular season on Wednesday versus Cleveland.

The Hawks are 33-7 at home, as opposed to their 18-22 road mark.

Milwaukee is currently tied with Miami for the fifth spot in the East and had its four-game winning streak come to an end with Saturday's 105-90 loss versus the Boston Celtics at home.

John Salmons scored 21 points and rookie Brandon Jennings had 19 to pace the Bucks, who got 12 points out of Jerry Stackhouse in a reserve role.

"With about four minutes to go in the second quarter they started getting really physical with us -- setting screens, getting to the basket and rebounding positions -- and we didn't respond really well to that," Bucks head coach Scott Skiles said. "They took a little momentum there."

Skiles was ejected after getting two technical fouls for arguing with the refs. Milwaukee will conclude the regular season on Wednesday in Boston.

The 2009-10 season series between Atlanta and Milwaukee is tied at a game apiece, with each team holding serve as the host. The Hawks have lost 18 of their last 21 trips to the Bradley Center.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.


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