Game Preview, Injury Report, Projected Starting Lineups For Tonight’s Game

The Atlanta Hawks are back home tonight and hoping they can end their five-game losing streak when they face the Houston Rockets, the team with the second-best record in the Western Conference. Atlanta was on the road last night and lost to Minnesota, but had a large portion of their roster out with injuries. Unfortunately for the Hawks, the injury report is going to be very important for today’s matchup. Trae Young, Dyson Daniels, Jalen Johnson, Larry Nance, and Bogdan Bogdanovic did not play last night and their status is unknown for tonight’s game. This was a game that was supposed to be played earlier this month but was postponed due to weather in Atlanta. It is the first time that the two teams have met this season.

Houston has been one of the surprises of the NBA this season. While some thought the Rockets could build off of their momentum from the end of last season, when they nearly made the play-in tournament, but climbing to the top of the Western Conference was unexpected. It does not seem like a fluke either. The Rockets have an elite defense and one of the deepest rosters in the NBA. It would be helpful for the Hawks if they could have most of their team available for this game. Both teams are on the second night of a back-to-back, with the Rockets having beaten the Celtics in Boston last night

Coming into tonight’s game, the Hawks are 9th in the NBA in PPG, 17th in FG%, 15th in 3PA, 24th in 3P%, 2nd in FTA, 25th in turnovers, and 8th in rebounding. Per Cleaning the Glass, Atlanta is 19th in points per 100 possessions, 21st in effective field goal percentage, 20th in turnover percentage, 9th in offensive rebounding percentage, and 7th in free throw rate.

Currently, the Hawks rank 27th in PPG allowed, 25th in field goal percentage allowed, 25th in three-point attempts allowed, and 28th in three-point percentage allowed. Per Cleaning the Glass, Atlanta is 15th in points allowed per 100 possessions and 27th in effective field goal percentage allowed.

Houston ranks 13th in PPG, 23rd in FG%, 21st in 3PA, 20th in three-point percentage, 5th in FTA, 1st in rebounding, and 9th in turnovers. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Rockets are 8th in points per 100 possessions, 26th in effective field goal percentage, 7th in turnover percentage, 1st in offensive rebounding percentage, and 19th in free throw rate.

Defensively, Houston is one of the top teams in the NBA. They rank 5th in PPG allowed, 6th in FG% allowed, 2nd in 3PA allowed, and 19th in 3P% allowed. Per Cleaning the Glass, Houston is 4th in points allowed per 100 possessions and 5th in effective field goal percentage.

Trae Young was not able to play last night and his status is going to be very important in this game. If he is unable to play, will the Hawks turn to Keaton Wallace again? It would be the third game in three nights for Wallace, who played in a G-League game on Sunday and over 30 minutes last night for the Hawks against the Timberwolves.

Vit Krejci had been one of the few Hawks who was playing well on offense, but he was not able to make much of an impact last night, scoring four points and going 0-4 from three. Krejci could be the lead guard in the event that Young and Wallace are out.

Zaccharie Risacher made his return from injury last night and he was up and down. He shot 4-13 and scored 11 points and pulled in seven rebounds. His status is going to be worth monitoring due to it being a back-to-back.

David Roddy got the start for the Hawks at the power forward position, but only scored two points in 18 minutes. Roddy struggles on the defensive end as well and the Hawks turned to Mouhamed Gueye to play his first real rotation minutes of the season. Gueye was active on the boards and was not shy about shooting the ball, but finished with four points on 2-9 shooting and 0-6 from three.

Onyeka Okongwu struggled last night with his matchup against Minnesota and is now going to face the top rebounding team in the league. Okongwu had seven points, and seven rebounds, but also four turnovers. Clint Capela outplayed Okongwu by a good bit last night, scoring 10 points and grabbing 15 rebounds.

It was a career night for De’Andre Hunter against Minnesota. Hunter scored a new career high 35 points and was the Hawks top player by a large margin. He was questionable going into last night’s game so keep an eye on his status.

Garrison Matthews scored six points in 25 minutes last night and if the Hawks have another lengthy injury report, he will play major minutes again.

The injury report is going to be huge. If Atlanta is fully available, or at least close to it, they can beat Houston. If they are missing multiple impact players, it is going to be difficult. The Hawks have not been a good offensive team for the better part of the last two weeks and going against a team with plenty of elite defenders will be a problem.

Both teams are on the second night of a back-to-back and have not released their injury reports yet.

Update (1:00 p.m ET)- Trae Young (right hamstring tightness) is questionable for tonight’s game. Jalen Johnson remains out. The good news for Atlanta is that the rest of the injury report is clean for now. Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher, De’Andre Hunter, Larry Nance, and Bogdan Bogdanovic should be available unless something changes between now and tip-off.

Update (5:00 p.m. ET)- Zaccharie Risacher and Bogdan Bogdanovic have been ruled out for the game tonight.

Hawks:

G- Trae Young

G – Dyson Daniels

F – Zaccharie Risacher

F – Vit Krejci

C – Onyeka Okongwu

Rockets

G- Fred VanVleet

G- Jalen Green

F- Amen Thompson

F- Dillon Brooks

C- Alperen Sengun

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