Atlanta Hawks Reveal Starting Lineup For Tonight's Game vs the Denver Nuggets

Will Atlanta be able to snap its losing streak tonight and defeat the Denver Nuggets?

The Atlanta Hawks have just revealed their starting lineup for tonight's matchup with the Denver Nuggets. 

With De'Andre Hunter unable to play tonight, Atlanta is starting Garrison Matthews in his place alongside Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, Saddiq Bey, and Clint Capela. 

The Nuggets will be starting Jamal Murray, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Michael Porter Jr, Aaron Gordon, and Nikola Jokic. 

One area where I think Atlanta could have an advantage over the Nuggets is the bench play. Even without Saddiq Bey coming off the bench, Atlanta has Bogdan Bogdanovic and Onyeka Okongwu, two proven players off the bench, and that is where the Nuggets have struggled this year. They are playing a lot of young players off the bench and you can tell they miss a guy like Bruce Brown. It could get a lot better as the year goes on, but right now their bench is not very good.

The Nuggets defense can stop the Hawks though. Denver is 8th in PPG allowed, 12th in field goal percentage allowed, and 15th in three-point percentage. Per Cleaning the Glass, Denver is 13th in points allowed per 100 possessions and 10th in effective field goal percentage allowed. Aaron Gordon is the best defender in this game in my opinion and he could have a big impact on this game.

Dejounte Murray vs the 76ers / Kyle Ross-USA TODAY Sports

The Hawks' defense is going to have a hard time with this Nuggets offense. When they are completely healthy, it is fair to say that Denver has the most complete starting five in the NBA. They are 14th in PPG, 4th in field goal percentage, 15th in three-point percentage, 13th in offensive rebounding, and 2nd in turnovers. Per Cleaning the Glass, Denver is 11th in points per 100 possessions, 9th in effective field goal percentage, 6th in turnover percentage, 10th in offensive rebounding rate, and 30th in free throw rate.

Nikola Jokic can say he is the best basketball player in the world and you won't get much of an argument from anyone. Jokic is going for his third MVP trophy and is currently averaging 28.4 PPG, 13.0 RPG, and 9.6 APG. He has struggled shooting the past two games but has been dominant this season and the MVP favorite. When he is on the bench, the Hawks have to win those minutes and by a good margin. If they don't, it is hard to see Atlanta winning this game. 

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