Atlanta Hawks: Hawks vs. Kings Pre Game Report

To say it has been a rough week for the Atlanta Hawks would be an understatement.  The Hawks have now lost four of five and have a scrappy Kings squad coming into Philips on Wednesday night.  The Hawks come back to Atlanta licking their wounds both literally and figuratively after a heartbreaking 90-88 loss to the Nets on Tuesday night.  Two free throws from Thaddeus Young with 1.4 seconds left on the clock after an odd series of events on the team’s prior possession ultimately did the Hawks in.

The loss of Jeff Teague and, to some degree, Kent Bazemore was on full display last night in Brooklyn.  Dennis Schroder had an off night shooting the ball and couldn’t get the Hawks into a good set on the team’s final play.  That final play led to a near turnover, then a forced shot which allowed the Nets to get out on the fast break and get to the rim.  Kyle Korver was in no man’s land and made the right play in fouling Young.  Young’s two made free throws was the difference.

Rebounding, or lack thereof, was again one of the story lines in this Hawk loss.  Coach Bud decided to go big with Bazemore out and start Tiago Splitter which slid Horford and Millsap down to both forward spots.  I like the thought process but it backfired as the Nets’ starting front line outrebounded the Hawks’ 28-14.  And on a night when two starters are out with an injury, that’s not a stat that is easily overcome.

But, today is a new day and the Hawks don’t have to think about that loss for long.  The Kings, winners of three straight, come into town playing their best basketball in a few years.  The trio of DeMarcus Cousins, Rudy Gay and Rajon Rondo have finally started to gel on the court after having some injuries stunt the group’s growth early on.  Rondo is having his best statistical season in years and has seemed to put his disastrous second half of last season with the Mavericks behind him.  He’s been playing a ton of minutes lately, so fatigue could become an issue at some point.

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While the Kings are certainly starting to come together on the court, the off court issues seem to always follow this team wherever they go.  The front office and the coaching staff are seemingly at odds on every decision regarding Cousins and it is almost as if the team’s upper management values the player over the coach no matter what said player does.  It is a volatile situation and one that could boil over at any point.  We’ve seen as much during games this season.  For Hawks fans, let’s just hope things on the court start resembling things off the court, for at least one night anyway.

Keys to the Game:

Keep the Dancing to a Minimum: When ‘Boogie’ Cousins gets doing, he’s hard to stop.  Like our own Al Horford, he’s added

Nov 17, 2015; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Atlanta Hawks head coach Mike Budenholzer yells from the sidelines during the second quarter against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

the three pointer to his repertoire and is hitting them with great consistency (45%).  He’s a load on the block and with the addition of Willie Cauley-Stein, he’s able to move to a more suitably PF slot to create matchup nightmares for opposing bigs.  He’s having a career season and is looking like an early season MVP candidate as he continues to showcase why the team’s front office has his back and why George Karl could be on his way out if he and Cousins don’t start to get along.  The Hawks will likely throw all five rotational big men at Cousins to give him different looks tonight with Millsap drawing the bulk of the assignments when both players are on the floor.  I can live with guys like Rudy Gay, Ben McLemore and Cauley-Stein beating me but what I can’t live with is Cousins going for 30 and 15 while drawing doubles and setting up his teammates for easy looks.

Pressure, Pressure, Pressure: The Hawks are second in the league in forcing turnovers.  The Kings are fourth in the league a committing them.  For as good as Rondo and Cousins are, they turn the ball over a combined 7 times per game on average.  Defensively the Hawks should put pressure on the ball whenever possible to try and force the ball out of Rondo and Cousins hands which, from what we’ve seen so far this season, will lead to turnovers allowing the Hawks to get out on the break and create extra possessions for themselves.  And aside from attacking the ball itself, the team needs to pressure the Kings three point shooters.  The Kings are second only to Golden State in three point percentage and the Hawks allow more three point attempts than any team in the league.  That doesn’t bode well for the Hawks so keeping shooters off their spots, pressuring them and being physical on the perimeter will be huge in keeping the Kings in check.

Projected Starting Lineups:

Atlanta Hawks

  • PG: Dennis Schroder
  • SG: Kyle Korver
  • SF: Thabo Sefolosha
  • PF: Paul Millsap
  • C: Al Horford

Notes: Korver hasn’t been playing on second nights of back to backs and neither has Sefolosha but at the time of this article, there has been no news on whether or not Jeff Teague or Kent Bazemore will be playing tonight so expect both to play and expect another heavy dose of Schroder with the team going back to a more traditional lineup to matchup with the Kings.

Sacramento Kings

  • PG: Rajon Rondo
  • SG: Ben McLemore
  • SF: Rudy Gay
  • PF: DeMarcus Cousins
  • C: Willie Cauley-Stein

Notes: The Kings are expecting to have Darren Collison (hamstring) back tonight which should help get Rondo’s minutes back down to normal.

Other News & Notes:

  • Thabo Sefolosha (ankle) played a season high 30 minutes against the Nets on Tuesday
  • The Hawks have won 14 straight games against the Kings
  • Rajon Rondo has played 227 out of a possible 240 minutes over the last five games
  • Tim Hardaway Jr. has yet to see the floor for the Hawks this season
  • Tonight’s game will be aired on Fox Sports South (TV) and on 92.9 The Game (Radio)

Next: Atlanta Team Grades vs Brooklyn

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