Hawks Notes: Porzingis and Krejci Bounce Back Performance, Risacher Dominates, YFN Lucci Honored by Hawks

Yesterday, Atlanta Hawks former Rookie of the Year candidate Zaccharie Risacher played in his first EuroBasket game with France this summer and had some high moments in the game. Risacher finished the game with 10 points, two rebounds, two assists, and one steal with a 14 plus-minus in just 18 minutes of play. Risacher also had a poster dunk that went viral in the first minutes of the second quarter that helped Frances' breakaway victory against Belgium.

As for today, both Kristaps Porzingis and Vit Krejci are looking to bounce back with strong performances in EuroBasket play, as they both struggled in their first games on Wednesday. In a match against Turkey, Porzingis struggled as he found himself settling for perimeter shots, going 0/5 from three-point range and 3/12 from the field in total. However, when playing inside, he was more effective, going 3/7 and drawing two fouls, which he converted into 4/4 at the free-throw line.

Krejci, however, had similar issues with his performance, as he attempted five three-pointers and went 1/5 from distance, and 2/8 from the field. Krejci was also Czechia's leading scorer with just 10 points in the game, in which he scored in the second quarter, and nobody else on the team scored in double figures. This was expected as Czechia doesn't have a main go-to scoring option and often struggles on offense as a result. Defensively, they seem to struggle with that end due to the lack of size they have inside the paint area, and Portugal took advantage of that mismatch, scoring 36 of their 62 points inside the paint.

For today's game, Porzingis and Latvia will take on Estonia, a match in which Latvia is heavily favored to win, with odds of -1800. The other positive aspect of this game for Latvia and Porzingis is that he should be able to dominate with more ease inside the paint, as Estonia will be without their top center, Maik-Kalev Kotsar, due to a shoulder injury. Latvia will also be playing at home in front of its own crowd, which is a significant energy boost for any team playing in front of its own fans.

As for Krejci, this is another potential struggling performance, as he isn't a prolific scorer but will be relied upon for this, as Czechia doesn't have anyone else who can produce in that way for them. Turkey, however, is a robust defensive team that can cause problems for Czechia and has multiple bodies it can throw at Krejci, such as Furkan Korkmaz and Cedi Osman, which is part of the reason Turkey won in mid-August against Czechia, 79-65.