Jordan McLaughlin Out
Stephon Castle Out
Dylan Harper Out
Victor Wembanyama
Kristaps Portingis Questionable
Zaccharie Risacher Questionable
N’Faly Dante Out
Trae Young Out
The Hawks have headed to San Antonio for a quick road trip. While San Antonio isn't at full strength tonight, it should still be an interesting matchup between these two.
The Spurs are clearly feeling the impact of Wembanyama's absence. Naturally, any team would struggle after losing their top scorer, rebounder, and best defender. Even without him, this team still shows some promise. With Fox back from injury and a strong supporting cast around him, the Spurs remain competitive at 10-4. However, Atlanta will be their toughest challenge since Wemby went down.
The Hawks might be a bit short-handed themselves, but their defensive core remains strong. Losing Young has been a setback, and Porzingis missing some games hasn’t helped, but the team revolves around Johnson. He’s been excellent on both ends, and with NAW and Daniels on defense, this group is tough. Sitting at 9-6, they’re in the same range as the Spurs.
This matchup is going to be all about defense. The Hawks are only allowing opponents to score 114 on average, giving them a healthy 3-point differential. Now with Young out too, that’s only going to make the lineups stronger on defense. However, the Spurs won’t be easy to stop. They’re full of solid three-point shooters, which is exactly the situation Fox thrives in. With him leading the way, the Spurs should be able to keep up scoring-wise with Atlanta. It’s really going to come down to how well the Spurs can defend against the Atlanta front court. With Johnson and Okongwu lighting it up lately, it’s going to be tough for them to slow them down. Without much size on the interior, Atlanta should have the edge in this one. That’s why I’m going with the Atlanta moneyline, the over on the 232.5 points total, and the Atlanta spread at +1.5.
Money line: ATL (-110) / SAS (-110)
Total Points: 232.5
Spread: +1.5 ATL (-120) / -1.5 SAS (+100)
The last month has been tough for Vassell’s scoring. Over the year, he’s only averaging 13 points a game, but in November, it dropped to 11 points. Especially with Wemby out for the foreseeable future, the odds have only decreased for him. Considering he’ll be facing a strong defensive backcourt in Daniels and NAW, the under is looking much more appealing for Vassell tonight.
As the veteran forward on the team, Barnes is already increasing his scoring with Wemby out. In their last games against Memphis and Sacramento, he scored over 20 points. His shot volume has also noticeably increased, going from around 8 attempts on average to 12 attempts with Wemby out. Considering his ability to spread the floor, Barnes should see a decent workload again tonight.
Okongwu has found himself in an interesting spot on the team. With Porzingis out, he’s been the starting center, but his rebounding numbers haven’t quite met expectations. Averaging 7.4 rebounds per game so far, he’s been consistently falling short lately. In 6 of his 9 November games, he’s gone under. With a solid core of tall, athletic wings grabbing rebounds around him, his numbers are likely to remain below par again tonight.
Johnson has recently made a strong scoring jump. In his last three games, he’s averaging nearly 27 points per game with solid shooting percentages. He’s also been on the court an incredible amount during this stretch, playing close to 40 minutes per game. While that number may decrease, as long as he continues to get to the line and averages around 15 attempts tonight, he should be in good shape to go over again.