Hawks vs Bucks: Spread and Final Score Predictions

The two teams with the longest winning streaks in the Eastern Conference face off tonight. The Atlanta Hawks have won four straight games heading into their matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks tonight and are playing their best basketball of the season. After a terrible start to the season, the Bucks have won seven in a row and are now sitting in 5th place in the East. Giannis Antetokounmpo is playing as well as any player in the NBA right now and will be a handful for the Hawks to handle. The one advantage that Atlanta is going to have is rest. Milwaukee played the Pistons last night and the Hawks have not played since beating New Orleans on Monday.

This is going to be a tough challenge for the Hawks, but they have some great wins this year. They have beaten Cleveland twice, have a road win at Boston, and have beaten the Knicks as well. Can they find a way to do it again tonight in Milwaukee? One thing to watch today is the injury report. Because they played last night, the Bucks have yet to release their injury report for tonight's game so keep an eye out for this later today.

Coming into tonight's game, the Hawks are 8th in the NBA in PPG, 14th in FG%, 19th in 3PA, 21st in 3P%, 6th in FTA, 26th in turnovers, and 7th in rebounding. Per Cleaning the Glass, Atlanta is 17th in points per 100 possessions, 19th in effective field goal percentage, 21st in turnover percentage, 7th in offensive rebounding percentage, and 8th in free throw rate.

Currently, the Hawks rank 27th in PPG allowed, 16th in field goal percentage allowed, 30th in three-point attempts allowed, and 30th in three-point percentage allowed. Per Cleaning the Glass, Atlanta is 18th in points allowed per 100 possessions and 23rd in effective field goal percentage allowed.

Milwaukee comes into this game ranking 14th in PPG, 6th in FG%, 15th in 3PA, 3rd in 3P%, 14th in FTA, 17th in rebounding, and 9th in turnovers. Per Cleaning the Glass, Milwaukee is 9th in points per 100 possessions, 4th in effective field goal percentage, 9th in turnover percentage, 30th in offensive rebounding percentage, and 19th in free throw rate.

Defensively, Milwaukee ranks 15th in PPG allowed, 5th in FG% allowed, 21st in 3PA allowed, and 21st in 3P% allowed. Per Cleaning the Glass, Milwaukee is 19th in points allowed per 100 possessions and 9th in effective field goal percentage allowed.

Trae Young continues to be one of the top facilitators in the league and he still leads the league in assists. He has been a different kind of player this year in terms of scoring, but is still one of the most dangerous point guards. He finished with 12 points and 15 assists on Monday vs New Orleans.

Dyson Daniels was named Eastern Conference Defensive Player of the Month and for good reason. He has been one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA and will be tasked with guarding Damian Lillard tonight. He had been struggling on offense, but he had 19 points on Monday vs New Orleans, but he did shoot only 1-5 from three.

Zaccharie Risacher scored 13 points on Monday and has been defending at a high level. Once the shooting catches up with that, he can be a high-level player and will play a big role tonight.

Jalen Johnson is playing at an All-Star type level this season and continued that on Monday vs New Orleans. He scored 19 points on 9-14 shooting and also pulled in seven rebounds and had five assists. He has been the second creator on offense this season and has taken that challenge and met it. Johnson is getting better and better, which should be scary for opposing teams.

The Hawks mix up their center rotation when it comes to minutes and on Monday, it was Clint Capela who played the majority of the minutes vs New Orleans. Who will take the matchuip vs Brook Lopez tonight? Both guys have been up and down this year, but Capela has been the best option for them most games, especially in terms of rebounding and defense.

The bench for the Hawks has been the real catalyst in this four-game winning streak, especially De'Andre Hunter. If he can keep up this level of play and remain healthy, Hunter could be in contention for 6th man of the year. Hunter scored 22 points on 4-7 shooting from three on Monday and when he scored 20 points, the Hawks are unbeaten. Bogdan Bogdanovic is still finding his footing this season, but one guy that is playing well in his minutes is Kobe Bufkin. Bufkin is only getting 10-15 minutes per game, but he has been making the most of it recently. He scored 10 points on 4-4 shooting from the field on Monday.

The Hawks three-point shooting and three-point defense are going to be the big keys tonight. The Bucks are 3rd in three-point percentage and while the Hawks have been better as of late, they have had games where they give up a lot of threes. On Monday, Atlanta shot 10-38 (26%) from three. They have to win the three-point battle tonight if they want to win.

Odds

The Hawks are currently four-point underdogs against the Bucks tonight according to Fanduel Sportsbook and the total is set at 236.

Prediction

The Hawks have the rest advantage coming into this game and are playing well. However, I think that Antetokounmpo is playing as well as any player in the NBA right now and the Hawks don't have a good matchup for him. On top of that, the Bucks can get hot from three and they shoot the ball well, something the Hawks have struggled against this year. This should be an entertaining game, but the Bucks are the home team and they will get the win.

Final Score: Bucks 117, Hawks 112

Additional Links:

Atlanta Hawks Legend Paul Millsap Officially Announces His Retirement From The NBA

Young Hawks Stars Dyson Daniels and Jalen Johnson Make ESPN's NBA 25 Under 25 List

Trae Young Gives Honest Statement About Facing Dejounte Murray For The First Time Since He Was Traded