Injury Report: Atlanta Hawks vs Brooklyn Nets

The Hawks go on the road to take on the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night

The Hawks are winners of two straight and they will now head on the road for two games vs the Brooklyn Nets. Most might not realize it, but these are important games for the Eastern Conference play-in race. Atlanta is four games ahead of the Nets for 10th place and with wins against Brooklyn in the next two games, Atlanta could get a stranglehold on the spot. 

Ahead of the matchup tomorrow night, Atlanta released its injury report and there is nothing new ahead of tomorrow's game. 

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

Hawks injury report for Thursday in Brooklyn:

Trae Young (left fifth finger torn ligament) is out.

Onyeka Okongwu (left big toe sprain/sesamoiditis) is out.

Griffin, Lundy, Krejci, Gueye, Forrest remain in the G League. https://t.co/HWoHbW0Q1C

— Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) February 28, 2024

Two things I will be looking for in tomorrow's game will be to see if the Hawks can continue their defensive play and how Jalen Johnson continues to impress, even more than he already had been this season. 

Much has been said about how bad the Hawks's defense has been this year (and it's been bad), but they have played very well in the last two games.

NBA Power Rankings: Hawks Stay Put After 2-1 Start After All-Star Break

The first game might be easy to dismiss against an Orlando team that was missing their best player, but the Jazz are a pretty solid offensive team and they could not get anything going against the Haws. The Hawks defense held Utah to 37% from the field and 29% from three and Utah star Lauri Markkanen only had 11 points. Utah scored 0.90 points per possession. Rookie guard Kobe Bufkin had another solid performance on defense as well and his contributions should not be understated.

After the game, Hawks head coach Quin Snyder praised his defense for how they played:

"I think other than we had some stretches where particularly live ball turnovers, but when we got settled, I thought we did a better job of staying in front of the ball and our bigs came over and contested shots and got rebounds. It is playing through a whole possession and I think we are helping each other more."

Is this a trend for Atlanta? It is still early to say but their defense has been good the past two games. 

There are not a lot of new things that can be said about the way that Jalen Johnson is playing, but he still should be getting plenty of love for his emergence. With Trae Young out, Johnson was going to be asked to do a lot on offense, as well as being their top perimeter defender and he has responded.

After a near triple-double on Sunday, Johnson almost had one again last night. He finished with 22 points, 13 rebounds, and six rebounds while shooting 9-14 from the floor. He looked comfortable running the floor on offense and his transition game is already among the best in the NBA. Johnson is one of the most improved players in the NBA and he is only getting better.