Atlanta is looking to snap its three-game losing streak tonight and the Brooklyn Nets are going to be in town for a showdown.
Ahead of their matchup with the Nets tonight, the Hawks released their injury report for the game and there were no new additions to it, but AJ Griffin, who missed yesterday's game with an illness, was not on it. Griffin has been in and out of the rotation for Atlanta this season, but it is great to see him off of the injury report. Kobe Bufkin and Mouhamed Gueye remain on it.
Brooklyn is going to be missing some key players tonight. Cam Thomas, the Nets leading scorer, is out tonight. Ben Simmons and Dennis Smith are also out tonight.
Atlanta is 3rd in the NBA in PPG (122.4), 7th in field goal percentage (48.7%), 12th in three-point percentage, 18th in rebounding, and 24th in turnovers. It is hard to gripe about a lot of their offense, but they do turn the ball over at an alarming rate, and their rebounding has gotten considerably worse over the course of the season.
Per Cleaning the Glass, Atlanta is 4th in points per 100 possessions, 6th in effective field goal percentage, 3rd in offensive rebounding percentage, 21st in turnover percentage, and 2nd in free throw rate.
Dejounte Murray is having a great start to his season and Jalen Johnson has been a great addition to the lineup this year. Bogdan Bogdanovic has been one of the best bench players in the NBA, averaging 15.5 PPG on 45.3% shooting.
One player that needs to start playing better is De'Andre Hunter. In a game where the total finished at 309 points, Hunter was basically invisible for most of the game. Atlanta needs Hunter to start playing better if they want to get where they want to, which is one of the top six teams in the East.
The Brooklyn defense is solid, but not great. The Nets are 17th in PPG allowed, 8th in field goal percentage allowed, and 7th in three-point field goal percentage allowed. Per Cleaning the Glass, Brooklyn is 20th in points per 100 possessions allowed and 14th in effective field goal percentage allowed. Mikal Bridges is one of the best defensive players in the league and will be a tough matchup problem for the Hawks's playmakers.
Like their defense, the Net's offense is not terrible, but there is not a lot that stands out about it. Brooklyn is 19th in PPG, 18th in field goal percentage, 5th in rebounding, 5th in three-point percentage, and 10th in turnovers. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Nets are 11th in points per 100 possessions, 12th in effective field goal percentage, 17th in turnover percentage, 13th in offensive rebounding percentage, and 28th in free throw rate.
Brooklyn is a good three-point shooting team and a good rebounding team. They defend well, but not at an elite-level defense. There is a reason the Nets are also 6-7 and I think it is because they are just an average team with mostly above-average to average players.
Injury report
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