The longest winning streak in the NBA will be on the line tonight in Atlanta. The Hawks continue their homestand tonight when they host the Brooklyn Nets, one of many teams at the bottom of the standings in the NBA who are trying to improve their lottery odds. The Hawks are 2-0 against the Nets this season, but Brooklyn did play the Hawks tough in their most recent matchup.
I would not expect that tonight though.
The Nets are not a good team when they are fully healthy, but they are not going to be close to full strength tonight vs the Hawks. Michael Porter Jr, Day'Ron Sharpe, Egor Demin, and Nolan Traore are all out tonight for the Nets, leaving them shorthanded tonight against a red hot Hawks team that is looking to climb in the Eastern Conference Standings.
So who wins tonight?
Matchup
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The Hawks have injury questions of their own tonight. Jonathan Kuminga and Dyson Daniels are both questionable coming into this game and of the two, Daniels is the more valuable player, though Kuminga has been very good off the bench in the three games he has played, though he has been out for neary two weeks.
The starting lineup for the Hawks has been fantastic since they made the switch and inserted CJ McCollum into the lineup. The starting five of McCollum, Dyson Daniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Jalen Johnson, and Onyeka Okongwu have been one of the best five man combinations in the NBA, though it is a bit of a small sample size. If Daniels cannot go tonight, I would expect Zacchari Risacher to be back in the starting lineup, even if Kuminga is back.
The thing I am watching closely tonight is the Hawks bench. In their win over the Mavericks on Tuesday, the Hawks only scored 24 bench points and no player had a positive +/- in the entire game. If Risacher is put into the starting lineup and Kuminga is not back, Jock Landale, Gabe Vincent, Corey Kispert, and Mouhamed Gueye are going to see plenty of minutes. They are facing a bad team, but if the Hawks want to be a serious threat to make the postseason, the bench has to be more consistent.
At the end of the day, it would be a shock if this game was competitive given the injury situation to Brooklyn. Even if Daniels and Kuminga can't suit up, expect a dominant win for Atlanta.
_Final Score: Hawks 128, Nets 107_