Hawks vs Wizards: Spread and Final Score Predictions

Who will win tonight's game between the Hawks and the Wizards

Oct 30, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young (11) drives to the basket as Washington Wizards forward Kyshawn George (18) defends in the first half at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images / Geoff Burke-Imagn Images

The 2024 NBA Cup continues its group stage tonight and after getting a huge win against the Celtics on Tuesday, the Hawks have a chance to move to 2-0 in group play when they face the Washington Wizards. The Wizards have the worst net rating in the NBA, but they have two wins over the Hawks this season (their only two wins of the year) and Atlanta cannot afford to take them lightly.

The Hawks finally received some good news on the injury report. After missing Tuesday's game vs Boston, Trae Young is back for the Hawks tonight and De'Andre Hunter is also returning after missing the last three weeks. While Bogdan Bogdanovic, Kobe Bufkin, and Vit Krejci are still out, the Hawks are starting to get healthier.

Here is a game preview from our owh Rohan Raman:

"Coming into tonight's game, the Hawks are 9th in the NBA in PPG, 12th in FG%, 19th in 3PA, 20th in 3P%, 5th in FTA, 19th in FT%, 19th in rebounding, 2nd in steals, and 19th in turnovers. Per Cleaning the Glass, Atlanta is 13th in points per 100 possessions, 14th in effective field goal percentage, 21st in turnover percentage, 18th offensive rebounding percentage, and 1st in free throw rate. From an offensive perspective, they do a good job of staying aggressive on offense. Trae Young and Jalen Johnson's ability as scoring threats is a big reason for the Hawks' strong marks in points per game and free throw attempts. However, they are still not a proficient three-point shooting team. Part of that can be attributed to the absence of Bogdanovic. Last year, he shot 37.4% from deep on a staggering 8.1 attempts a game. On defense, the presence of Dyson Daniels is what contributes to their high steal numbers. Daniels has been one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA this season and averages a league-leading 3.6 steals per game. For some context, it's a whole 1.3 steals higher than Jordan Poole in second place.

Washington comes into this game 20th in PPG, 22nd in field goal percentage, 9th in 3PA, 11th in 3P%, 20th in FTA, 6th in FT%, 26th in rebounding, 11th in steals, and 20th in turnovers. Per Cleaning the Glass, Washington is 27th in points per 100 possessions, 24th in effective field goal percentage, 20th in turnover percentage, 22nd in offensive rebounding percentage, and 20th in free throw rate. While the overall numbers are not very impressive, it is worth nothing the Wizards' high marks as three-point shooters, free throw shooters and steal numbers. This suggests they are a team that will spread the defense out and can swing a game with shooting variance. It also goes towards the aggressiveness of the defense. However, neither the offense or defense are particularly imposing.

Washington's number one focus will be to slow down Trae Young and Jalen Johnson. Young is making his way back from a recent injury, so he might not be able to provide an encore to the 35 point, 15 assist game he had in their last meeting. Still, they are not flush with obvious defensive options for Young. Johnson seems to be in the midst of a run — he just dropped an 18 point, 13 rebound and 10 assist triple-double in his game against Boston and put up 21 points with 17 rebounds and four assists in his last appearance against the Wizards. It should be interesting to see how Johnson handles the matchup with Alex Sarr, who the Wizards drafted in the 2024 NBA Draft with the second overall pick. Even though Bilal Coulibaly is an improved defender, I do not think he's an imposing enough option on that end to predict a silent game from Johnson or Young.

I am also interested if the centers can carry their success from the Boston game back home. All of Clint Capela, Onyeka Okongwu and Larry Nance Jr contributed in different, but impactful ways. Capela showed up as a rebounder and reliable paint scorer, Nance torched Boston's defense as a shooter and Okongwu got the game-winning tip in. If they can replicate even some of that against Washington and Young puts up his usual numbers, this should be arguably the easiest win of the user.

Furthermore, one matchup that should be fun to track is the likely battle between Bub Carrington and Dyson Daniels. Carrington has gotten off to a solid start as a rookie — he is putting up 9.9 points a night on 43.2/36.1/88.9 splits while dishing out 5.1 assists. He's shown he's capable of running an NBA offense, but Daniels is a different level of defender. His understanding of space and active hands help him as a formidable 1v1 defender. Limiting the Wizards' top option, forward Bilal Coulibaly, through some combination of Jalen Johnson, DeAndre Hunter and Zaccharie Risacher should also be a top priority for head coach Quin Snyder. Hunter could draw a challenging matchup in his return to game action, but I would not expect him to be particularly effective as the sole defender."

Odds

According to Fanduel Sportsbook, the Hawks are going to be 8.5-point favorites vs the Wizards tonight. The total is set at 237.5.

Final Score Prediction

The third time is the charm right?

The Hawks have some positive momentum after beating Boston on Tuesday and with Young and Hunter back, they are starting to get healthy as well. The Wizards are arguably the worst team in the NBA and Atlanta cannot afford another loss to them. I think they get a big win at home and their defense leads the way.

Final Score: Hawks 123, Wizards 112