The Atlanta Hawks have put their disastrous road trip behind them and are currently riding a four-game winning streak. This momentum has them back one game below .500 and if they can manage to sweep the homestand then this will get their season well and truly back on track.
The Hawks looked reasonably fresh against the Charlotte Hornets, with everyone available for head coach Nate McMillan except Onyeka Okongwu and De’Andre Hunter. Up until they had the extra day’s break before the Charlotte Hornets game, the Hawks had both Kevin Huerter and Bogdan Bogdanovic listed as questionable
Now the Hawks have one final chance to gain more momentum at home as they host the OKC Thunder in the fifth game of the homestand. This game has the possibility of being a danger game for the Hawks with the way the Thunder’s backcourt is set up.
The Atlanta Hawks need to not rest against the OKC Thunder
The Hawks have not rested on their laurels at all this season, however, with the young Thunder team, it would be easy to slack off a bit. However, the Thunder have beaten the Los Angeles Lakers twice and had their own home winning streak which sees them in the 11th seed in the West which is the same seed as the Hawks hold in the East.
They do provide a matchup difficulty for the Hawks with their backcourt comprising of the 6’6″ Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the 6’8″ rookie Josh Giddey. On top of that, the Thunder have a future potential Defensive Player of the Year in Luguentz Dort who will try to stop Trae Young.
So not only is their backcourt very tall, meaning that the Hawks will be stretched to stay with them physically, their leading scorer is Dort. This means that Young is not going to have the ability to be hidden on the player in the corner as Dort also loves to drive the ball from that position.
However, with that being said, the Hawks are a better team than the Thunder and therefore should be able to secure their fifth straight win.