Atlanta Hawks Game Preview: April 11th vs. Charlotte Hornets

The Atlanta Hawks face the Charlotte Hornets Tuesday night for the final time this season. Can they finally get a win against their I-85 rivals?

The Atlanta Hawks are exhausting. Sometimes they exhaust you in a good way. Sometimes they exhaust you in a bad way. Lately they’ve been the good type of exhausting. It all started last Thursday.

The Hawks faced a TNT Thursday night showdown against a Boston Celtics team they don’t like very much. Coming into that game, they had lost two games in a row to the Chicago Bulls and Brooklyn Nets. The confidence of Hawks fans may have been at an all-time low.

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Then something strange and beautiful happened.

The Hawks beat the Celtics. They followed that up with a Friday night road win against the Cleveland Cavaliers, despite missing all five starters due to rest or injury.

On Sunday, they beat the Cavs again. This time by erasing a 26-point fourth quarter deficit to win in overtime.

I’m exhausted just thinking about those games. This week should be a little less crazy. The Hawks have two more games to wrap up their regular season. They’ve clinched a playoff spot, all that’s left is a fight for seeding.

Because of the various tiebreaker scenarios, they could finish fifth or seventh in the Eastern Conference. With a win in either of their final two games they would clinch fifth place. The Hawks control their own destiny. What a time to be alive.

Their first opponent this week is a team they’ve struggled with this season. Atlanta has played the Charlotte Hornets three times in 2016-17, and they have lost to the Hornets three times. The most recent game came during the middle of Atlanta’s seven-game losing streak.

The Hornets dominated the Hawks in that matchup, winning 105-90. The game was tied after one quarter, but that would quickly change. Charlotte outscored Atlanta by nine points in the second quarter and six points in the third quarter to take control of the game.

Charlotte’s usually mediocre shooting shined bright against Atlanta. The Hornets shot 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from three. It was a balanced scoring effort from Charlotte, no player broke the 20-point barrier.

Nicolas Batum and Kemba Walker each finished with 16 points. The only other starter to finish in double figures scoring was Marvin Williams who had 13 points. Frank Kaminsky had 14 points off the bench, Jeremy Lamb added 12 points on 5-for-9 shooting.

Paul Millsap missed the game, robbing Atlanta of their best offensive and defensive player. Ersan Ilyasova started in his absence and played relatively well. Ilyasova finished with 13 points, six rebounds, and two assists on 5-for-11 shooting.

Dennis Schroder led the Hawks in scoring, finishing his night with 20 points and six assists on 8-for-17 shooting. Overall, Atlanta shot 44 percent from the field and 32.4 percent from three-point range.

The Hawks are a different team now. Millsap is back in the lineup. Taurean Prince has emerged as a valuable rotation piece, and their offense is as good as its been all season. The Hawks appear to be peaking at just the right time.

The Hornets, on the other hand, are not. Charlotte was recently eliminated from postseason contention, meaning they no longer have anything to play for. As a result of that, they have decided to shut Kemba Walker down for the remainder of the season.

Walker was in the midst of the best season of his career and even made his first All-Star Game appearance this season. He averaged 23.2 points, 5.5 assists, and 3.9 rebounds per game on 44.4 percent shooting and 39.9 percent from three-point distance over 79 games. Without him, Charlotte’s offense lacks the scoring punch to compete against a defense as good as Atlanta’s.

Monday evening against the Milwaukee Bucks, Brian Roberts started in his place alongside Nicolas Batum, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Marvin Williams, and Cody Zeller. The Hornets led through three quarters, but a 13-point fourth quarter led to a comeback victory for the Bucks. They could have used their closer.

This is a game that the Hawks should win. All of Charlotte’s previous wins in this season series came with Kemba Walker in the lineup. The Hornets would be a lottery team without Walker, of course, the Hawks have shown that they can lose to lottery teams.

It would behoove the Hawks to win tonight. That way they could lock in their playoff seed and rest key players Wednesday night against Indiana. I expect Mike Budenholzer will have his team focused and ready for the task at hand.

Next: The Future Is Bright For Prince

Who: Charlotte Hornets (36-45) @ Atlanta Hawks (42-38)

When: 7:30 PM EST, Tuesday, April 11th, 2017

Where: Philips Arena

How: Fox Sports Southeast

Prediction: Hawks 100 Hornets 89

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