Hawks vs. Nuggets Game Preview

What to expect as the Hawks enter the Mile-High City.

The Hawks’ five-game road swing continues Tuesday night in Denver, where Atlanta will take on a Nuggets team that currently stands at the top of the Western Conference. The two teams split their season series last season, one game apiece, even as they ended the season in vastly different places in the standings.  

Denver would pose challenges for any team in the NBA, but the specific construction of its roster makes for an especially difficult matchup for Atlanta.Nikola Jokić is the most unique and creative center in the NBA, and his brand of crafty fakes and passes will keep Atlanta’s bigs on and off their toes all night. But they aren’t the only players that must account for Jokić’s trickery. Perhaps the Serbian’s greatest ability is making teammates better, and Denver’s offense is designed to give him as many possible options to do that. Double-team him in the post, and Jokić will find the open man. Turn your head for even a moment, and he’ll zip a pass to a cutter behind the defense. All five Hawks must constantly remain attentive when Jokić has the ball.

Despite their 7-2 record and first-place standing, the Nuggets have struggled out of the gate. Jokić hasn’t quite looked himself as Denver has tried to more evenly balance its offense between him and Jamal Murray. His per-game numbers are down across the board and he simply hasn’t asserted himself on offense the way he’s capable of. Murray, meanwhile, is off to a slow start of his own. He’s accurate from 3-point range, but less than 30 percent of Murray’s shots come from that range and he seldom gets to the rim. A staggering 49 percent of his attempts come from the midrange, and while he’s one of the best midrange shooters in the league, Murray’s diet of shots prevents him from ascending to a more efficient level of play.

Nearly every player in Denver’s rotation has shot poorly and Jokić hasn’t had his usual effect of lifting the offense to more than the sum of its parts. The Nuggets rank 24 in the NBA in offensive efficiency, surviving instead on a top-five defense. Those numbers will likely both regress to the mean as the season wears on, but the early returns run counter to preseason expectations for this team. Atlanta will put that fifth-ranked defense – and Jokić’s mobility – to the test in ball screens with Trae Young, but Atlanta enters the game with one of the least efficient offenses in basketball and Denver has the kinds of players that can limit the other Hawks.

Game Time: Tuesday, November 12, 2019, 9:00 p.m. ET

Location: Pepsi Center, Denver, CO

TV: FOX Sports Southeast, Altitude

Streaming: NBA League Pass, FOX Sports Go

It will be worth watching which players, if any, are able to step up and take some weight off of Young’s shoulders offensively. The point guard has carried a heavier offensive load than nearly any other player in the NBA, and while it’s nice for the Hawks to be able to lean on someone like that, Young will need help if Atlanta intends to rise out of the league’s offensive cellar. Kevin Huerter has emerged as the most likely candidate to provide it while Jabari Parker has given the Hawks a reliable secondary scorer in the absence of John Collins. Yet the Hawks are still a below-average shooting team and one of the most turnover-prone groups in the NBA. Denver doesn’t force a huge number of turnovers, but so many of Atlanta’s giveaways are self-inflicted that the Nuggets could find themselves with a handful of extra possessions anyway.

The matchup between Parker and former Hawk Paul Millsap will be an important one for both sides. Parker has played some of the best basketball of his career since Collins exited the lineup, while Millsap remains a staunch defender in the post and from the weak side. His movement and interplay with Jokić could exploit a distrait defender like Parker, and Millsap has the strength, quickness, and hands to keep up with Parker’s bruising downhill game.

Tuesday night will feature two teams still coming into form. The difference in the two is the extent of their aspirations. Denver may soon round into a championship contender. The Hawks will try to prove, once again, that they can compete with one.