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Former Atlanta Hawk Al Horford's Status Revealed For Matchup Tonight Against His Old Team
The Celtics are in town for their second matchup of the week against the Hawks and one former Hawk is not going to be able to suit up tonight for Boston. Forward Al Horford was just ruled out for this game, while guard Jrue Holiday remains questionable.
It was a team effort to beat the Celtics on Monday night, with Atlanta getting big games from De'Andre Hunter, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Vit Krejci, and Dejounte Murray. Last night, it was all about Murray, who led the team with 30 points in the win over the Blazers.
The Hawks offense has been playing well during this brief three-game winning streak, especially their three-point shooting, which is what propelled them to a win over the Celtics on Monday night. Boston is the league's top three-point shooting team, but they went ice cold against the Hawks on Monday night.
Murray scored 30 points against the Blazers last night after scoring 19 against the Celtics on Monday. Murray is the catalyst of the offense, but the supporting cast around him was the difference on Monday night. On most nights that Murray does not have a big game, the Hawks offense suffers, but that was not the case on Monday. I still think Murray will need to have an effective game to give the Hawks a chance tonight.
Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 22 points in the last meeting between these two teams and looked good shooting from three, going 4-7. Bogdanovic can get hot in a hurray and the Hawks will need him tonight.
Vit Krejci and De'Andre Hunter were arguably the best players for the Hawks on Monday, but both struggled last night vs Portland. Krejci scored 13 points in the third quarter on Monday vs Boston, including hitting four threes. Hunter led the team with 24 points, but he struggled to shoot the ball last night, going 1-6 from three and scoring 12 points. Hunter and Krejci will have to be better than they were last night if the Hawks want to pull another stunner.
Clint Capela played one of his best games of the year on Monday. His rebounding and defense were fantastic. Bruno Fernando will get the backup center minutes tonight.
The bench for the Hawks will need to find guys to step up. Garrison Matthews and Dylan Windler had big games last night, but Trent Forrest and others will also get minutes.
