Hawks vs. Nets Game Preview: Atlanta Looks to Avoid Season Sweep
Were it not for the feebleness of the teams below them in the standings, the Nets would be in a far more vulnerable position. Instead, they sit comfortably in the Eastern Conference’s middle ground, along with the Magic, where they likely won’t rise high enough to sniff the Pacers or sink far enough to lose their grip on a playoff berth. Unlike the Magic, however, Brooklyn’s mediocrity isn’t entirely of their own making. It entered the year with the understanding that Kevin Durant likely wouldn’t set foot on an NBA court until next year due to a torn Achilles’ tendon, then Kyrie Irving, the team’s other star acquisition from the summer, battled intermittent injuries before finally shutting it down for good earlier this month. Whatever success or failure the Nets had this year would only be temporary; Durant and Irving’s returns next season will establish an entirely new order.
It’s admirable that Brooklyn has achieved even the middling degree of success it has. The Nets have a 26-31 record, the 15th-best point differential in the league, and a multifarious cast of players who play smartly and give effort every night. They lack the top-end talent to compete with the league’s best teams, but are competent enough to handle less disciplined opponents. It’s unsurprising, then, that they have a chance to sweep the season series against Atlanta on Thursday night. In each of the previous three meetings, Brooklyn has played a more complete and focused game than the Hawks, using its depth and discipline to outclass a young team still learning the finer points the Nets already have down pat.
Game Time: Friday, February 28, 2020, 7:30 p.m.
Location: State Farm Arena, Atlanta, GA
TV: FOX Sports Southeast, YES Network
Streaming: NBA League Pass, FOX Sports Go
Spread: Nets -2.5
The Hawks have found a variety of ways to lose to Brooklyn this season. The last game between the two teams was the only of the three games in which Irving played, and he made quick work of a Trae Young-less Atlanta team with 21 points on 10-of-11 shooting in just 19 minutes in a blowout win. The prior meeting featured a monumental comeback from Brooklyn in the second half after the Hawks built up an 18-point cushion. In the first affair, four Nets scored at least 20 points in their second-most efficient offensive game of the season.
Atlanta was shorthanded in each of those losses, and will be so again on Friday as Dewayne Dedmon misses a second consecutive game with right elbow soreness and Clint Capela misses his 12th straight contest with a heel injury. Kevin Huerter is probable to play through left adductor pain while both Young and Damian Jones are questionable with flu-like symptoms. DeAndre’ Bembry will miss the game with abdominal pain.
The Hawks will likely need Young in the lineup to stay competitive against the NBA’s eighth-best defense. The Nets play one of the most conservative and analytically-minded defensive approaches in basketball, limiting opponents’ shots at the rim and the foul line while forcing the second-most midrange jumpers in the league. They hold opponents to a tidy 60 percent shooting at the rim and have the third-lowest opponent effective field goal percentage in the NBA. Jarrett Allen drops back in the pick-and-roll as much as nearly any big man in the league, lingering in the paint to take away layups and using his length to deter drivers. That could give John Collins plenty of pick-and-pop 3s, and even Bruno Fernando could have the green light when he’s in the game.
Offensively, Brooklyn takes exactly the kind of shots it aims to prevent. It takes 78 percent of its shots from 3 or at the rim -- the third-highest mark in the league -- and generates the fourth-best expected shooting efficiency in the NBA. Without Irving and Durant, however, the Nets have struggled to convert those shots efficiently. They rank in the bottom 10 in field goal percentage at the rim and from beyond the arc, which has sunk their offense to 23rd in points per possession. Spencer Dinwiddie is a dynamic ball-handler and shot-creator, and has been the team’s best creator in Irving’s absence, but he hasn’t quite been good enough to drive an efficient team offense. Caris LeVert has disappointed in a larger role during a crucial season while Taurean Prince and Garrett Temple are too limited to play central roles in a good offense.
The Hawks can’t claim to be much better on that end of the floor, especially if Young is too ill to go on Friday. Their secondary creators might be even more limited than Brooklyn’s and they don’t generate the same kind of lopsided math advantage with their shot distribution. It’s hard to lose to the same team four times in a season, and Atlanta hasn’t done so yet, but they’ll need to play with the urgency of a team in need of a win to actually get one.
