Hawks vs Raptors: Game Preview, Injury Report, Projected Starting Lineups For Tonight's Game

After taking a loss to the Detroit Pistons, the Atlanta Haws have a quick turnaround and will face the Toronto Raptors tonight at home. While the Raptors do possess the second worst record in the Eastern Conference, they will have the rest advantage in this game and Toronto has won three of their last four games, including wins over the Celtics and Warriors. Like every back to back, the injury report that should be released this afternoon is going to be key for the Hawks tonight.

After only having one home game through the first 21 days of 2025, Atlanta was finally in front of their own fans at State Farm Arena and was hoping to bounce back from the loss on Monday vs the Knicks. It was an important game when it came to the Eastern Conference Standings, with the Hawks sitting at 6th place coming into tonight and Detroit just a half-game behind in 7th place. Detroit won the first matchup back in November and wanted to advance to 2-0 vs the Hawks in the season series.

They did just that and it was hard to pinpoint a bigger culprit than the Hawk's three-point shooting. Atlanta struggled from the opening tip when it came to shooting the ball and they ended the night with one of their worst shooting performances of the season. The Hawks were 6-38 from three (15%) and although Detroit only shot 35% from three, they hit twice as many threes as the Hawks, which is always a recipe for disaster. Against the Raptors tonight, the Hawks must shoot the ball better.

The two teams have already met once this season, a 136-107 win for Atlanta in Toronto, a game that Trae Young scored 34 points and handed out 10 assists. This is the first of two games between the teams to finish the week, as they will face each other again on Saturday.

Game Preview

Coming into tonight's game, the Hawks are 7th in the NBA in PPG, 16th in FG%, 15th in 3PA, 22nd in 3P%, 3rd in FTA, 24th in turnovers, and 7th in rebounding. Per Cleaning the Glass, Atlanta is 17th in points per 100 possessions, 20th in effective field goal percentage, 19th in turnover percentage, 7th in offensive rebounding percentage, and 7th in free throw rate.

Currently, the Hawks rank 28th in PPG allowed, 24th in field goal percentage allowed, 28th in three-point attempts allowed, and 28th in three-point percentage allowed. Per Cleaning the Glass, Atlanta is 17th in points allowed per 100 possessions and 27th in effective field goal percentage allowed.

The Raptors currently rank 20th in PPG, 12th in FG%, 29th in 3PA, 21st in 3P%, 19th in FTA, 17th in rebounding, and 26th in turnovers. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Raptors are 22nd in points per 100 possessions, 19th in effective field goal percentage, 22nd in turnover percentage, 6th in offensive rebounding percentage, and 27th in free throw rate.

Defensively, the Raptors are 26th in PPG allowed, 22nd in FG% allowed, 20th in 3PA allowed, and 24th in 3P% allowed. Per Cleaning the Glass, Toronto is 25th in points allowed per 100 possessions and 23rd in effective field goal percentage. If the Hawks are going to have a bounce back night when it comes to shooting the ball, Toronto is a team that allows you too.

Atlanta is going to need a bounce back game from Trae Young tonight. He had 13 points on 5-13 shooting and could not ever find his rhythm last night. Toronto does not have a good defense and Young torched them in the last matchup.

Dyson Daniels had a solid game on offense last night vs Detroit, maybe the only player who had a good offensive game. He scored 20 points and shot 10-21 from the field and also had 10 rebounds.

Vit Krejci has been in the starting lineup for Atlanta with the absence of Zaccharie Risacher and he has been shooting the ball well, including going 3-5 last night vs Detroit. Krejci started in the last game vs Toronto and scored five points.

Jalen Johnson has been solid since returning to the lineup, but he was questionable going into yesterday's game so keep an eye on his status today. He had 17 points, nine rebounds, and six steals vs the Pistons. He did not make much of an impact through three quarters, but came alive in the fourth, especially on defense, where he was key in helping force eight fourth quarter turnovers from Detroit.

After having three consecutive strong games, the Hawks moved Onyeka Okongwu into the starting lineup, but he has not been as effective over the the last two games. That is not to say he should not be starting, but he has not had the same impact as he did in wins over Phoenix, Chicago, and Boston. He had nine points and 10 rebounds last night vs Detroit.

The bench for the Hawks has been one of their strong points this season, but aside from Clint Capela, it was a weakness last night vs Detroit. Capela had a 16-point, 10-rebound double-double, but De'Andre Hunter and Bogdan Bogdanovic combined to shoot 0-13 from three. In particular, Bogdanovic has struggled mightily over the last week or so shooting the basketball, and for a team that lacks a lot of proven shooters, Atlanta needs him to get going again.

It was an ugly game last night from an offensive perspective, but some of that is shooting variance and luck. I don't expect the Hawks to have that poor of a performance, especially against a defense like Toronto. The Hawks have played well (for the most part) on defense over the last few games and the Raptors are not potent on that end of the floor.

Injury Report

The Hawks are playing on a back-to-back and have not released their injury report yet. Look for that to be released this afternoon.

Update (1:00 p.m. ET): Clint Capela (right knee soreness) is going to miss his first game this season and that makes the Hawks rotation tonight intriguing. Jalen Johnson (right shoulder inflammation) and Trae Young (right Achilles tendinitis) are both probable. Larry Nance is still out for the Hawks.

For the Raptors, Ochai Agbaji is questionable and Immanuel Quickley is out.

Projected Starting Lineups

Hawks

G- Trae Young

G - Dyson Daniels

F - Vit Krejci

F - Jalen Johnson

C - Onyeka Okongwu

Raptors

G- Scottie Barnes

G- Grady Dick

F- R.J. Barrett

F- Ochai Agbaji

C- Jakob Poeltl

Game Preview

Injury Report

Projected Starting Lineups

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