In what was one of the wilder 24-hour swings of this season, the Atlanta Hawks got a big 98-96 road win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday. The victory came as they were still without Trae Young, Clint Capela, Danilo Gallinari, and Lou Williams due to health and safety protocols as well as De’Andre Hunter who is still recovering from wrist surgery.
Rookie point guard Sharife Cooper was also placed into protocols just ahead of the game while Nate McMillan said Kevin Huerter was in the parking lot in hopes of getting a negative test result ahead of the game.
Now, reports are that any hopes of getting Young back in time for a big re-match Christmas with the New York Knicks are no more.
The Atlanta Hawks were dealt a significant blow to their Christmas day outlook
Yahoo Sports Chris Haynes took to Twitter with word that Young was not expected to be cleared in time per Haynes’ sources. The news comes just as the Knicks are set to get Immanuel Quickley back, bringing their overall number of players in health and safety protocols from as high as seven down to just three.
Of the three still out, only Nerlens Noel is a major part of the rotation.
The same cannot be said for the Hawks bevy of players which continues to grow, adding Sharife Cooper on Thursday and Wesley Iwundu on Friday. Atlanta has placed at least one player in health and safety protocols four days in a row.
None of those absences will be felt more than Young’s.
Their offensive rating drops over 13.3 points when Young is off of the floor. Their defensive rating does improve by 6.6 points but that just means he is twice as good offensively as he is bad defensively. That’s is somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but the overall positive impact Young has on this team cannot be denied.
The Knicks won the previous matchup earlier this season 99-90 to snap the Hawks seven-game winning streak.
That was also the beginning of their current seven-game skid at State Farm Arena.
The Hawks can’t snap that with a win on Christmas; the game is in New York. But they could do themselves another big favor if they can steal another win despite being short-handed ahead of what is another tough stretch that extends into the new year.
No Young makes that tougher to accomplish, no doubt. But they showed against the 76ers that they can also win playing tough defense.
With Cam Reddish and Delon Wright both leaving with injuries, that could be tough to replicate.
They have to find a way to do the same, regardless, against a Knicks team getting healthy as the Hawks continue to lose players to protocols.