Hawks vs Nuggets: Injury Report
The Atlanta Hawks hae won six games in a row and will put that winning streak on the line tomorrow night vs the Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets have a matchup with the Wizards on Saturday before they head to Atlanta and won't have their injury report available until tomorrow. For the Hawks, they have released theirs and there are a couple of notable names on it.
Jalen Johnson (right shoulder soreness) is questionable for Sunday against the Nuggets and Trae Young (right Achilles tendinitis) is probable. Cody Zeller (not with team) remains out.
One of the best NBA games of the entire season took place at State Farm Arena last night. The Hawks and the Lakers played a tightly contested game that went to overtime and it saw Atlanta extend their winning streak to six games, despite LeBron James having his best game of the season with a triple-double (39 points, 11 assists, and 10 rebounds) and Anthony Davis scoring 38 points to go along with 10 rebounds and eight assists. Trae Young had 31 points and 20 assists, including the game-winning shot, and De'Andre Hunter (26) and Bogdan Bogdanovic combined for 46 points in an incredible Hawks win
Atlanta has been playing really good defense over the course of their winning streak, but last night was not a strong defensive game. The Lakers had been struggling on that end of the floor and were without Austin Reaves tonight, but they proceeded to shoot 52% from the field and 46% from three. The thing is though, most of their scoring was done through James and Davis, who were incredible. The Lakers bench did them no favors and Atlanta's bench outscored their 65-17. The Lakers supporting cast has taken a lot of criticism this season and they did not do anything to stop the criticism tonight.
The night that Young had will get the attention (as it should), but the Hawks are getting a version of De'Andre Hunter that they never have before. Hunter has been incredible coming off the bench and that continued tonight, in a game in which he and LeBron James were going back and forth. Hunter went on to score 26 points off the bench, shooting 9-15 from the floor and 5-7 from three. Hunter has been incredible for the Hawks this season and should be getting more recognition from around the league for his performance.
This was also a great night for Bogdan Bogdanovic, who scored 20 points and hit plenty of timely threes. Bogdanovic finished 4-9 from three and 7-13 from the field and teamed up with De'Andre Hunter to lead the Hawks bench.
The Hawks are playing phenomenal basketball and the NBA is starting to take notice. While the Lakers are struggling right now, getting a win over them when you have incredible games from two of the best players on the planet is something you can be proud of. This team has a lot of young pieces and still has a lot of things to figure out, but they are finding ways to complement each other and it has resulted in great team basketball and a six-game winning streak.
Up next for the Hawks is a game against the Denver Nuggets and three-time MVP Nikola Jokic. Tip-off for that game is set for 6:00 p.m. on Sunday night at State Farm Arena.
Additional Links:
LeBron James, Trae Young, and End of Hawks-Lakers Game Has NBA World Buzzing