Two contests the Atlanta Hawks will be watching with interest on their rest day
The Atlanta Hawks are enjoying the benefits of their two-day break between the Washington Wizards game which could be a season-defining contest. Given that John Collins has just returned from a heel injury and Kevin Huerter is suffering from a shoulder ailment, the Hawks need a little break.
However, with the exception of the time around the All-Star weekend and also Thanksgiving, the NBA regular season rolls on. This means that on the Hawks’ second rest day, there is an eight-game slate. Three of these involve teams that are above the Hawks in the standings.
The game between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Phoenix Suns will be an interesting matchup, but the Suns are missing too many pieces. This should be a win for the Bucks who are seven games ahead of the Hawks anyway which is going to be hard to make up in 19 games.
Which two matchups are the Atlanta Hawks going to be watching with interest?
The first matchup is actually the earliest one of the day between the Boston Celtics and the Brooklyn Nets. The Celtics sit in the fifth seed with a six-game edge over the Hawks. They have been on a tear lately but one of their stars, Jaylen Brown is day-to-day with his ankle.
The Nets on the other hand have been in a state of upheaval all season. Kyrie Irving has been out for most of the season due to vaccination status, James Harden was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, and his replacement, Ben Simmons has back issues and is not playing at the moment.
On top of that Kevin Durant has been out with injury which has resulted in the Nets losing 16 of their last 19 games. This has them sitting at 32-32 on the season. If the Nets win then the Hawks will slip to one game behind them. However, if the Celtics win then the Hawks will be 6.5 games back and can almost kiss the fifth seed goodbye.
The next game that the Hawks will be watching with interest is the contest between the Toronto Raptors and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers occupy the sixth seed and a currently five games ahead of the Hawks. The Raptors are in the seventh seed and are just three games ahead of the Hawks.
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It would be preferable if the Raptors took this game as this will only put them 3.5 games ahead as opposed to the Cavaliers who would get to 5.5 games ahead. This then makes the game against the Detroit Pistons crucial for the Atlanta Hawks when they play the following day. Win it and they can creep a little closer to the playoffs, lose it and they fall back towards missing the play-in tournament.