Wednesday brings us a big slate of NBA betting action and we’ll take a look at an inter conference battle between the Atlanta Hawks and Los Angeles Lakers.  The Hawks are currently tied for 3rd place in the East with Boston.  They won’t catch first place Cleveland and have little chance of catching 2nd place Orlando, but they can move up to third with a good stretch run.  The Lakers are leading the West by 5 games over Dallas, 5 1/2 over Utah and 6 over Phoenix.  And as happens every so often we post the full version of our accompanying photo as the cropped version simply doesn’t do it justice.  Go here to see the full thing.

ATLANTA HAWKS VS. LOS ANGELES LAKERS:

Tough scheduling spot for the Lakers, who’ll play their 5th road game in 7 days here.  The Hawks, meanwhile, have been off since Friday and they’ll be anxious to get a victory over the best in the West.  Atlanta does have a big road game at Cleveland on Friday, but we expect a good effort here.  LA has struggled against the spread on the road this year with a 16-20 record and is only 2-5 ATS and 1-6 SU as a road underdog.  They’re 2-6 ATS against the Southeast Division and 15-21 ATS against teams with winning records.

The Hawks on the other hand have been a great pointspread team at home posting a 23-14 ATS mark. They’ve also been very good straight up, with a 30-7 record.  They’re also 32-23 ATS as a favorite.  Atlanta also has a solid 19-15 ATS mark against teams with winning records.  The Lakers are still without Luke Walton and Andrew Bynum, and will be more focused on getting home and their next two games against Utah, San Antonio and Denver.  Atlanta has won the last two meetings here at Phillips Arena and they should make it 3 straight here.

PLAY ATLANTA -1′ OVER LA LAKERS