A preview of the Atlanta Hawks second game of the season against the Philadelphia 76ers in a “revenge game” for Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce.
The Atlanta Hawks head to Philly for their January 11th matchup against the 76ers and are looking to end their cold streak of late, losing 2 in a row and 5 of the past 6. Philly currently sits 4th in the East and continues to play like one of the best teams in the league.
The Hawks are getting their second look at the 76ers this season, losing in blowout fashion earlier on October 29th, 113-92. Kent Bazemore led the Hawks scoring that night with 18 and Trae Young finished with a clean 11 points 8 assists and 0 turnovers. Luckily for the Hawks, John Collins was out for the first meeting and will sure add to the competitiveness of our side.
Getting to see Collins back in action is always a treat as he has played extremely well as of late. Collins is averaging an outstanding 19 points and 12.1 boards over his last 7 games and written earlier this week, The Ringer’s D.J. Foster had a nice piece on John Collins and why the Hawks might have solved the hardest part of the rebuild already.
Looking at the 76ers, Jimmy Butler was not a Sixer the last time these two teams played and it will be interesting to see who gets what assignments tonight. Seeing Collins going against an elite defensive center like Joel Embiid on some possessions is going to be a great matchup to watch as Collins needs to get as many reps against elite talent as possible.
This game will also mark Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce‘s second game against his former team in the regular season, so he will likely be motivated to show his best stuff.
Sitting right around 9.5-point underdogs, the Hawks have a tall task in front of them. Make sure to tune in at 7:00 p.m. EST, January 11th to see the battle, GO HAWKS!