The Atlanta Hawks are aiming to extend their winning streak to three games tonight when they go on the road to face the Washington Wizards for the first time this season.
Atlanta is 3-0 against division opponents this season, beating the Orlando Magic twice and beating the Hornets on Sunday. The Wizards come into this game with the worst record in the NBA (1-15) and while they still are without Trae Young, they are the far superior team to the Wizards. Give that the Hawks have a three-game stretch of Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Detroit after this game, this is a game that Atlanta needs.
Here are the starters for tonight’s game:
Hawks
G- Nickeil Alexander-Walker
G- Dyson Daniels
F- Zaccharie Risacher
F- Jalen Johnson
C- Kristaps Porzingis
Wizards
G- CJ McCollum
G- Corey Kispert
F- Bilal Coulibaly
F- Kris Middleton
C- Alex Sarr
Looking at the numbers
In our game preview this morning, our own Rohan Raman dove deeper into the numbers for the Hawks and how they look through the first 18 games:
“The Hawks’ offense has been solidly average thus far despite missing their best playmaker. They’re 17th in points, 7th in FG%, 10th in 3P%, 19th in FT%, 27th in rebounds (27th in OREB), 3rd in assists and 13th in turnovers per game. They’re 16th in offensive rating on the year, so the advanced metrics support the idea that they’ll be able to match up with most teams on that end.
Atlanta’s defense is a bit reliant on turnover plays, but they’ve still been among the better units around the NBA. On a per-game basis, the Hawks rank 10th in points allowed, 11th in FG% allowed, 7th in 3P% allowed, 24th in rebounds allowed, 5th in steals and 8th in blocks. They’re 13th in defensive rating on the year, which puts them in an above-average tier.
The Wizards’ offense is severely lacking, but they do shoot the ball well from deep. They’re 23rd in points, 21st in FG%, 9th in 3P%, 26th in FT%, 20th in rebounds (20th in OREB), 21st in assists and 29th in turnovers per game. This is a team that regularly makes mistakes on offense that can be exploited.
Despite having a defensive anchor in Alex Sarr, Washington’s defense is still struggling to find its way. They’re 30th in points allowed, 23rd in FG% allowed, 24th in 3P% allowed, 30th in rebounds allowed, 28th in steals and 7th in blocks. Once again, Atlanta will be going up against a fairly weak defense, so it is reasonable to expect that the Hawks will have plenty of opportunities to control the game.”
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