Earlier this week, De'Andre Hunter returned from a month-long absence and played around 17 minutes against the Los Angeles Lakers. Hunter has been slowly progressing back to full strength and with a back-to-back on the horizon for the Hawks (Friday against the Suns, Saturday against Golden State), it was reasonable to think that Hunter might not play in both games. Thus, he was questionable coming into tonight's game vs Phoenix and his status for tonight's game was just revealed.
Hunter will be out for tonight's game vs Phoenix.
The Hawks come into this game 3rd in the NBA in PPG, 23rd in field goal percentage, 7th in three-point attempts, 18th in three-point percentage, 5th in free throw attempts, 8th in rebounding, and 18th in turnovers. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Hawks are 12th in points per 100 possessions, 20th in effective field goal percentage, 15th in turnover percentage, 3rd in offensive rebounding percentage, and 7th in free throw rate.
Despite not being named to the All-Star Game, Trae Young has been one of the NBA's best guards and players. He is averaging 27 PPG (10th in the NBA) and 10.9 APG (2nd in the NBA) and against the Suns, he has a chance to have a huge game. The perimeter defense for the Suns is not their strength and Young and Dejounte Murray can take advantage of that. Murray is averaging 21 PPG and having the best scoring season of his career.
Jalen Johnson is having a huge breakout season for the Hawks, averaging 15.6 PPG and 8.3 RPG. Johnson will likely be asked to guard Durant tonight as well.
The Suns do not have a defense near the bottom of the league, but they are below average. Phoenix is 15th in PPG allowed, 10th in field goal percentage allowed, 17th in three-point attempts allowed, and 18th in three-point percentage allowed. Per Cleaning the Glass, Phoenix is 15th in points allowed per 100 possessions.
The Suns lack a high-level perimeter defender and the Hawks will have to exploit that.
The problem is, the Hawks don't either.
Atlanta has arguably the worst defense in the NBA. They are 29th in PPG allowed, 28th in field goal percentage allowed, 19th in three-point attempts allowed, and 28th in three-point percentage allowed. Per Cleaning the Glass, Atlanta is 26th in points allowed per 100 possessions and 29th in effective field goal percentage allowed. That is going to be a problem against elite offensive players like Booker and Durant.
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