Hawks vs Nets: Game Preview, Injury Report, Projected Starting Lineups

Can the Hawks avenge their blowout loss with a win against the Nets today?

After losing an ugly game to the Nets on Thursday, the Hawks get a chance to correct things and get a victory on the road in Brooklyn. If Atlanta wins, they will extend the lead for the 10th-place spot in the Eastern Conference back to four games. If they lose, Brooklyn will not only be two games behind Atlanta for the play-in spot, but the Nets win the season series and will have the tiebreaker. 

Thursday night did not go the Hawks' way from the start of the game. After winning their first two games without Trae Young, the Hawks looked completely lost without their star point guard. 

The Hawks got off to a dreadful start in this game. They trailed 18-4 early in the first quarter and 34-16 after the first. In the second quarter though, Atlanta cut into that lead, outscoring the Nets 34-22 and only trailing by six at the half. Atlanta had momentum on their side, but it did not last. The Hawks have been one of the worst third quarter teams in the NBA all year long and they continued that trend tonight.

In the third quarter, Brooklyn outscored Atlanta 38-25 and the Nets shot 74% from the field and 67% from three. The Hawks were not bad on offense in that quarter, but nowhere near the same level as Brooklyn. The Nets went into the 4th quarter with a 19-point lead and things only got worse from there for Atlanta. 

Aside from Dejounte Murray, no one on the Hawks could find a way to get anything going on offense. While the Hawks were not perfect on offense in the first two games without Young, they did a good enough job and played well on defense to get a win. When the defense is as bad is it was last night, the offense has to be better and it was not.

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The Hawks miss Young's offensive capabilities and not even in the scoring sense. He finds ways to get his teammates easy shots and makes defenses cover him from everywhere on the court. Dejounte Murray is a good player, but he is not going to do that. While Young is out, Bogdan Bogdanovic and others are going to have to step up. It can't be Murray and Jalen Johnson all the time. Young is going to be out for a while and the Hawks have to find a way to be better on offense or they will risk falling out of the play-in tournament. 

For the Hawks to win today's game, they need to defend the three-point line better, find a way to get the offense going and shoot from three better. Bogdan Bogdanovic and Jalen Johnson will have to be much better than they were Thursday night as well. In short, everyone needs to play better today for the Hawks to emerge victorious. 

Injury Report

Onyeka Okongwu (left big toe sprain/sesamoiditis) and Trae Young (left fifth finger torn ligament) are out today.

Viewing and Betting Information

Tip-off time: 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time

Location: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY

Where to Watch: NBA League Pass, Bally Sports Southeast

Spread and Over/Under: The Hawks will be underdogs on the road tonight, as they are currently 2.5 point underdogs and the over/under is at 221.5 according to the latest odds from the SI Sportsbook

Projected Starting Lineups

Hawks:

G- Bogdan Bogdanovic

G- Dejounte Murray

F- Jalen Johnson

F- Saddiq Bey

C- Clint Capela

Nets:

G- Dennis Schroder

G- Cam Johnson

F- Mikal Bridges

F- Dorian Finney-Smith

C- Nic Claxton