Hawks vs Lakers: Game Preview, Injury Report, Projected Starting Lineup for Tonight's Matchup

No Trae Young, some problems?

The Atlanta Hawks have done an adequate job of staying afloat against teams without their star point guard. They dispatched two terrible teams in the Orlando Magic and the Indiana Pacers, but fell to a Cavaliers team that seems to be in a different tier. A good assesment of how well the Hawks can survive against the vast majority of the NBA without Young was yesterday's game against the Raptors. Toronto seems to be in the play-in tier of the Eastern Conference, which puts them roughly on the Hawks' level.

They did not do well in that test yesterday. Atlanta only scored 97 points to the Raptors' 109, which was a stark display of how listless their offense is without Young. They blew a 13-point lead and only shot 23.7% from deep as a team. Their defense had extremely positive stretches, but they weren't able to get any stops in the last eight minutes of the fourth quarter. Toronto led in the fourth quarter, 85-81, and never relinquished the lead down the stretch because Atlanta couldn't score or defend when it mattered.

Jalen Johnson had 21, 7 and 4 on 8-14 shooting while Nickeil Alexander-Walker chipped in 20 points on 7-14 shooting. The Hawks got solid scoring games from Zaccharie Risacher (16 points, five rebounds) and Kristaps Porzingis (17 points, seven rebounds, three assists), but it just wasn't enough to keep up with Toronto. Scottie Barnes struggled with his efficiency, but he was a pivotal part of the Raptors' offense in the clutch and recorded a 14 pt, 10 rebound double-double. Brandon Ingram and RJ Barrett also kept Toronto's offense churning forwards with 20 and 18 points respectively.

The Hawks will now welcome a Lakers squad that will be down both LeBron James and Austin Reaves. Of course, they still have Luka Doncic on their team and that's terrifying enough for any Hawks team to think about. In the 10 games he's played against Atlanta, Doncic averages 28.1 points, 9.1 rebounds and 8 assists. This is going to be yet another tough test for the Hawks to prove that they can win games without Trae Young.

By the Numbers

The passable level of Atlanta's recent offense seems to be entirely derived from their poor competition. Toronto is a solid team and they made the Hawks' offense look completely anemic. Atlanta is 22nd in points, 16th in FG%, 25th on 3P%, 17th in FT%, 13th in rebounds (17th in OREB), 8th in assists and 14th in turnovers per game. On paper, the moves Atlanta did to improve their shooting haven't offset the loss of Young.

Atlanta's defense is better without Young in the lineup, but they're still not enough of a strength to make up for poor offense. On a per-game basis, Atlanta ranks 13th in points allowed, 8th in FG% allowed, 2nd in 3P% allowed, 26th in rebounds allowed, 11th in steals and 11th in blocks.

The Lakers have run their offense through the Doncic-Reaves duo and it's produced great results. They're 9th in points per game, 1st in FG%, 26th on 3P%, 13th in FT%, 28th in rebounds (27th in OREB), 11th in assists and 21st in turnovers per game. They. haven't been shooting the ball well, either, which indicates that they have untapped upside to come if their shooting regresses in the other direction.

LA"s defense is somehow still mediocre despite the lack of true standouts on that end. The Lakers are 14th in points allowed, 19th in FG% allowed, 13th in 3P% allowed, 5th in rebounds allowed, 18th in steals and 25th in blocks. The duo of Marcus Smart and Jake LaRavia have given the Lakers good defensive minutes while Doncic's own improvements on defense have also been helpful.

Three Reasons Atlanta Can Win This Game

While the Lakers have been a great offense thus far, they do turn the ball over a lot. They're 21st in turnovers per game and 24th in TOV% as a team. Atlanta has been better at taking care of the ball (13th in TOV%) and great at turning opponents over (7th in opponent TOV%). They have two great perimeter defenders in Dyson Daniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, but Zaccharie Risacher also had a good defensive stint against the Raptors. He had two steals versus Toronto and it's possible that the Hawks could ride the turnover advantage into advantageous fast-break opportunities.

DeAndre Ayton has been a pleasant surprise for the Lakers, at least to start. The former No. 1 overall pick is averaging 17.5 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.3 blocks on 65.7% from the field as LA's starting center. He's also been a passable help-side defender - he was a notable part of holding Victor Wembanyama to 19 points and eight rebounds in the Lakers' matchup with the Spurs. He does also get blocks at a decent rate, currently holding an impressive 3.9% block percentage. However, he's still suspectible inside the paint. He's a terrible defensive rebounder (career-low 18.7% defensive rebounding percentage this year) and that could set Onyeka Okongwu up for a big game. He's averaging the best DREB% season of his career (24.1%) and has enough of a shot for Ayton to chase him on the perimeter. Gueye has also been a great defender this year and could silence Ayton's offense.

This is also a good matchup for Zaccharie Risacher to step up as a ball-handler. He'll likely draw Marcus Smart, who will get into his frame and force Risacher to use his strength to go through him. However, Smart might not have the foot speed to keep Risacher in front of him. Risacher showed legitimate burst against the Raptors, even dropping Scottie Barnes on a nice crossover before getting around two defenders for the tough finish. If he continues to do that, this could be a statement game for the second-year wing.

Three Reasons Atlanta Might Lose This Game

Luka Doncic is on a tear even by his own lofty standards and the Hawks don't really have anyone who can match his scoring pace. Doncic is averaging an incredible 40 points, 11 rebounds, 9.2 assists and 2 steals a game on 50/30/78.9 shooting splits. The fact that his three-ball actually hasn't been consistently going in is ludicrous to think about because he could very easily find it again and score even more. He's an offense unto himself - the duo of Daniels and NAW are going to have to live up to their reputations tonight because they are going to be the primary defenders on him.

The Lakers are also great at getting paints inside the point and hitting midrange jumpers. Their 55.8 points in the paint rank 5th in the NBA and the Hawks have a mediocre ranking when it comes to stopping teams from scoring inside (17th leaguewide). They have a center advantage in their duo of Mo Gueye and Onyeka Okongwu. All three of them should feature heavily in this game as rim protectors to hopefully force some LA misses from inside.

One player that the Hawks should be watching carefully in this one is Rui Hachimura. The Lakers' power forward has been getting it done on both ends, averaging 16.9 points and 4.1 rebounds on a career-high 69.9 TS% while also taking crunch-time defensive reps on Wembanyama. He's likely going to be guarding Jalen Johnson for a good portion of tonight's game, so the Hawks may not be able to count on Johnson being highly effective. That leaves Atlanta needing a big-time performance from its less-heralded names, which hasn't been a reliable thing to count on this year.

Injury Report

Atlanta Hawks: Trae Young, Nikola Durisic and Kristaps Porzingis are out. Luke Kennard, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Jalen Johnson are questionable

Los Angeles Lakers: LeBron James, Gabe Vincent, Maxi Kleber, Adou Thiero and Austin Reaves are all out.

How to Watch

Here is how you can watch tonight's game:

Tip-off time: 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time

Location: State Farm Arena, Atlanta, GA

Where to Watch: FanDuel Sports Network

Spread and Over/Under: The Hawks will be underdogs at home tonight, as they are currently 5.5-point underdogs according to the latest odds from the Fanduel Sportsbook, and the over/under is set at 228.5.

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