Bill Yin breaks down his prediction and pick for Tuesday’s game between the Atlanta Hawks and Washington Wizards.

The 28-31 Hawks will hope to pick up a much-needed win tonight against the 16-40 Wizards. Both teams have gone 4-6 in their last 10 games, but the Hawks are in playoff contention while the Wizards are nowhere near. The Hawks are only two games ahead of the 11th seeded Bucks and will need every easy win they can manage if they want to sneak into the postseason.

The Hawks are 13.5-point favorites on DraftKings Sportsbook with the total for this game set at 239.5 points.

Hawks vs. Wizards prediction, preview

Atlanta’s season has been a high-speed affair on the offensive side despite their defensive woes, even after parting with Trae Young at the trade deadline. They decided to move forward with their new centerpiece, Jalen Johnson, who’s shown tremendous growth this season. Johnson has exploded into an elite playmaking wing averaging 23.4 PPG, 10.8 RPG, and 8.1 APG. He’s averaging more assists than Jamal Murray, LaMelo Ball, Tyrese Maxey, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The Hawks are scoring 116.9 PPG with a league leading 30.3 APG. Despite Johnson’s fixture as the engine of this offense, the Hawks look towards shared creation rather than the heliocentric offense they built around Trae. That type of offense is either outdated or requires a stronger player who won’t give up as many points on the defensive end. Regardless, they’re 10-10 since moving away from Young, and will look to make it to the postseason.

The Wizards have been a complete disaster on defense this season, which is a theme that underscores all bottom-dwelling teams. Washington is boasting 121.1 DEFRTG and 109.6 OFFRTG, signaling an inability to get stops and an inability to get buckets, which is, well, a big problem. They’ll almost assuredly be better next season, provided new star big man acquisition Anthony Davis can stay on the court. He’ll be a massive help in addressing their defensive issues; having a player like Davis playing help defense should be instrumental in covering for the defensive lapses and weaknesses of other players. His fit next to Alex Sarr remains to be seen, as neither can consistently space the floor.

These two teams are 1-1 this season, with Washington winning 132-113 in the first contest and Atlanta winning 131-116 in the second.

Hawks vs. Wizards pick, best bet

Best Bet: O 236.5

In their two prior meetings, these teams put up 245 and 247 points. Tonight’s O/U for the total game score seems a bit low, especially for two leaky defenses. I’m banking on the fast pace and poor defense to result in a ton of points being put on the board tonight.