The Atlanta Hawks have a chance to continue their hot streak tonight as they go for their fifth straight win. Their opponent this evening is going to be the Phoenix Suns, who are also playing some really good basketball right now. The Suns have won five straight games and surged into the top six of the Western Conference standings.
The Hawks continue to play well despite not having star point guard Trae Young and most games, they are doing it with their defense. However, they had an incredible game from guys like Jalen Johnson (3rd career triple-double) and Onyeka Okongwu (career high in points). They are going to face a big challenge tonight against Devin Booker and a Suns team that has been playing very good defense.
The starters for both team were just announced for tonight’s game:
Hawks
G- Nickeil Alexander-Walker
G- Dyson Daniels
F- Zaccharie Risacher
F- Jalen Johnson
C- Onyeka Okongwu
Suns
G- Devin Booker
G- Ryan Dunn
F- Dillon Brooks
F- Royce O’Neale
C- Mark Williams
Deep Dive on Atlanta
Our own Rohan Raman took a deeper dive into the Hawks advanced numbers and how they matchup with Phoenix tonight:
“It’s still early enough in the season where big games can vault teams a few spots up the rankings and they got exactly that against the Jazz. Atlanta is 17th in points, 10th in FG%, 13th on 3P%, 18th in FT%, 21st in rebounds (26th in OREB), 3rd in assists and 15th in turnovers per game. They’re 20th in offensive rating on the year and while it’s not impressive, the offense without Young has been passable as of late.
Atlanta’s defense has been excellent, but they had an off game against the Jazz and allowed a 40-piece from Lauri Markkanen. On a per-game basis, Atlanta ranks 7th in points allowed, 7th in FG% allowed, 5th in 3P% allowed, 25th in rebounds allowed, 3rd in steals and 8th in blocks. They’re 5th in defensive rating on the year and it seems clear that this is going to be a much better defense than the team has fielded in recent seasons.
Devin Booker is having a stellar year for the Suns despite losing two of the team’s major scoring options from last season. He’s a big part of why Phoenix is 12th in points, 13th in FG%, 5th on 3P%, 10th in FT%, 19th in rebounds (11th in OREB), 9th in assists and 20th in turnovers per game. The advanced statistics have them as one of the ten best offenses in basketball with a ninth-place rating of 117.1.
Dillon Brooks, Ryan Dunn and head coach Jordan Ott have led the charge in transitioning one of the worst defenses in the NBA into a rock-solid unit. They’re 9th in points allowed, 11th in FG% allowed, 8th in 3P% allowed, 10th in rebounds allowed, 4th in steals and 16th in blocks. This is going to be one of the toughest defensive matchups the Hawks have faced this year.”
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