Bogdan Bogdanovic, Jalen Johnson's Status Revealed For Tonight's Game vs Portland
Jalen Johnson (right ankle sprain) was listed as doubtful on the injury report leading into tonight's game and Bogdan Bogdanovic (illness) was added to it earlier today. The Hawks just updated their status for tonight and Johnson is going to miss his third straight game, while Bogdanovic is good to go against the Blazers tonight.
Johnson was injured in the third quarter in the Hawks win over Cleveland last week and has not played since. Atlanta is also without Trae Young, Onyeka Okongwu, and Kobe Bufkin.
The Blazers have lost four of their last five games but did get a win over the Toronto Raptors in overtime. The Hawks had their three-game losing streak snapped on Sunday by the New Orleans Pelicans. In that loss to New Orleans, the Hawks lost forward Saddiq Bey for the season with a torn ACL and that has made life tougher for them, as Bey was an important part of the team. The Hawks will be missing Trae Young, Onyeka Okongwu, and Kobe Bufkin tonight, and forward Jalen Johnson is doubtful. Atlanta is one of the most injured teams in the NBA right now and it is going to be challenging for them to even beat a team like the Blazers, who sit at the bottom of the standings.
So how do these two teams match up?
Coming into this game, Atlanta ranks 5th in PPG, 22nd in field goal percentage, 8th in three-point attempts, 18th in three-point percentage, 5th in free throw attempts, 1st in offensive rebounding, and 13th in turnovers. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Hawks are 9th in points per 100 possessions, 20th in effective field goal percentage, 8th in turnover percentage, 5th in offensive rebounding percentage, and 8th in free throw rate.
Dejounte Murray has played well without Young and he has had to. The offense has a whole has been suffering with Young out of the lineup and it has allowed teams to go all in on trying to guard Murray. New Orleans has one of the best defenders in the NBA, Herb Jones, to throw at Murray, but Portland does not have someone like that. Murray can take advantage of poor defensive play in the backcourt and look for mismatches there.
Bogdan Bogdanovic is the No. 2 option on the Hawks offense and it is not close. Krejci has not given the Hawks much in ways of scoring and rebounding so far in his two starts, but the Hawks might need more if Johnson does not play. Krejci has shown the ability to drive to the basket and find open guys, but the rest of his offense has not come along yet.
They will be matched up against a pretty poor Portland defense. Portland is 17th in PPG allowed, 27th in field goal percentage allowed, and 6th in three-point percentage allowed. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Blazers are 24th in points allowed per 100 possessions and 25th in effective field goal percentage.
