Atlanta Hawks Game Preview: Battle With Brooklyn
By Dallin Duffy
A preview of the Atlanta Hawks next game, which is tonight against the Brooklyn Nets.
The Atlanta Hawks will continue their current road trip on Wednesday, traveling to Barclays to take on the Nets.
The Hawks will definitely be looking to bounce back from their previous trip to Brooklyn, where they lost 144-127 on December 16th.
The Nets’ 144 points that night is (tied with the Bucks) the most Atlanta has given up this season. They got their by a 32-point outburst by point guard D’Angelo Russell, and ample bench scoring. Brooklyn beat the Hawks in points off the bench by a margin of 56-37.
In terms of positives, both Dewayne Dedmon and Trae Young recorded double-doubles on the night, and John Collins put up 29 points, just 1 short of his career high mark.
Jump a few weeks forward, the 20-22 Nets are holding on tight to the 8th seed, and looking to make the playoffs for the first time since the 2014-15 season, when they were knocked out by the 60-win Hawks.
The Hawks will be looking to spoil their playoff hopes again, but might be doing so without key contributors. Kent Bazemore and Taurean Prince remain out, and standout rookie Kevin Huerter, who missed last night’s Toronto game should be considered questionable.
The Nets, outside Rondae Hollis-Jefferson should have their full healthy squad out there, and you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who wouldn’t call them the favorites in tonight’s game.
The Atlanta Hawks have been feisty at certain moments at the season however, knocking off teams who are better than them on paper like Denver, Minnesota and Miami, and they will have the extra motivation of recovering from last month’s trouncing. Should the Hawks pull it out, the season series’ rubber match will be in exactly 2 months, March 9th.
Tip off is slated for 7:30 in Brooklyn, tune in to watch the Atlanta Hawks play their 41st game of the season, officially marking the halfway point for their schedule.