The Hawks have the last game of their long homestand tomorrow night when they host the Los Angeles Clippers and the Hawks are going to be looking for their fifth win in a row. Atlanta was able to defeat the Golden State Warriors last night to improve its record to 22-27. The Clippers are playing the Miami Heat in Miami tonight so they will be on the second night of a back-to-back.
Ahead of the matchup, the Hawks have released their injury report and there are a few notables.
Saddiq Bey (left ankle sprain) and De’Andre Hunter (right knee injury management) are both questionable for tomorrow's game while Clint Capela (left adductor strain) will be out. Hunter playing in last night's game while Bey missed it.
Capela had one of his best games of the season in Saturday night's win over the Golden State Warriors, but the Hawks provided an injury update on their center this afternoon and as it turns out, he is going to miss some time.
Here is what the official injury update had to say:
"After experiencing discomfort late in last night’s game vs. Golden State, center Clint Capela underwent an MRI earlier today at the Emory Sports Medicine Complex. He has been diagnosed with a left adductor strain. He will be re-evaluated in seven-to-10 days and his status will be updated as appropriate."
This is obviously a big deal for the Hawks. While they do have one of the best backup centers in the NBA, Capela is still a solid defender and rebounder, evidenced by his double-double last night. With him being out for at least 7-10 days, you can expect heavy minutes from Okongwu and it will mean that Bruno Fernando is likely going to receive minutes as the backup center for the Hawks.
This week was the first time that Atlanta had their core eight players fully healthy. Then, De'Andre Hunter sat out the front of the Hawks back-to-back and in that same game, Saddiq Bey injured his ankle and missed last night's game. The Hawks have not had good injury luck this season and it is unfortunate that Capela will miss time. Hopefully, he can return fully healthy once he is cleared.
Last night, both of Atlanta's centers took advantage of Golden State's lack of size and had huge performances.
Capela finished with 17 points and 15 rebounds and Okongwu had 22 points and 16 rebounds. Atlanta held a 72-56 advantage in terms of points in the paint and they just overwhelmed Golden State at certain points in the game. Atlanta has two quality centers and they both played well last night.
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