The Hawks enter the week with a pair of resourceful wins in hand. They mounted a substantial rally in the fourth quarter against Phoenix Friday, then Dennis Schröder and Al Horford scored 45 combined points to help a team missing four of its regular starters to a win over the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Hawks now enter the second, more challenging week of their six-game Western Conference road trip, plus a game at home against Mike Budenholzer's former team, the San Antonio Spurs.
Once this upcoming week is complete, Atlanta will finish the regular season with 11 of their final 12 games against the Eastern Conference.
MINI-POWER RANKINGS FOR THE UPCOMING WEEK
The Hawks have games this week against:
Sacramento (Monday | 10:00 PM | Sleep Train Arena | SportSouth, 92.9 The Game)
Golden State (Wednesday | 10:30 PM | Oracle Arena | SportSouth, 92.9 The Game)
Oklahoma City (Friday | 8:00 PM | Chesapeake Energy Arena| SportSouth, 92.9 The Game)
San Antonio (Sunday | 3:00 PM | Philips Arena | SportSouth, 92.9 The Game | Get Tickets)
1. (tie) Atlanta, Golden State: Good luck picking the top team from between these two. The Warriors have a better record, but the Hawks won the head-to-head matchup. Golden State plays in the better, tougher Western Conference, but the Hawks actually have a better winning percentage against the West than the Warriors do. Let's leave this one to be settled on the floor Wednesday.
3. San Antonio: The Spurs are a different team with Kawhi Leonard on the floor. San Antonio outscores the opposition by 9.6 points per 100 possessions with him in the game, compared to just 0.3 points per 100 possessions without him. Also: Manu Ginobili sprained his ankle this weekend and it expected to miss at least a week.
4. Oklahoma City: The margin of error for the Thunder as they finish the regular season is a slim one: They only lead the New Orleans Pelicans by 1.0 game in the race for the eighth and final playoff seed in the Western Conference.
5. Sacramento: The lineups may look different tonight than they did a week ago when these two teams played. Rudy Gay missed a recent Kings/Wizards game with a knee issue and he is listed as 'questionable'. Kyle Korver broke his nose and won't play. It's also not out of the question that Al Horford gets a night off after playing last night in Los Angeles.
MATCHUP TO WATCH
Russell Westbrook vs. Jeff Teague. Since the All-Star break, Westbrook has averaged 33.2 points, 10.7 assists, 10.2 rebounds and 1.8 steals per game. He is doing everything he can to drag the Thunder into the playoffs.
It makes sense that Budenholzer chose to rest Teague against the Lakers coming into a week where he will be guarding Stephen Curry, Westbrook, and Tony Parker in consecutive games.
SOMETHING SEEN ...
Elton with the block, Dennis with the no-look dish, DeMarre with the shot. The Hawks would surely love to have more of this stuff tonight in the rematch with the Kings.
... AND SOMETHING HEARD
“Oh, it was a war, and I’m not going to say who said what. But there was a debate among the coaches: What do we do with him?” -- Assistant coach Kenny Atkinson on the Hawks' coaching staff back in 2013 trying to plot the future of forward Mike Scott and ultimately deciding he should focus on emphasizing agility over power, (from a New York Times story by Scott Cacciola)
INJURY REPORT
Thabo Sefolosha is out with a right calf strain. He is almost six weeks into an absence that was estimated to last six to eight weeks.
Mike Scott broke the big toe in his left foot. The timeline for his return from injury is not yet known, but he is visiting a foot specialist today.
Kyle Korver broke his nose in the game against the Lakers. He did not travel with the team to Sacramento and will be re-evaluated today in Los Angeles.
INTERESTING STAT
Jeff Teague is one of the NBA's best at scoring through the use of a hand-off, a play which is defined as one where "the screen setter starts with the ball and hands the ball to a player cutting close by."
Among players who have completed 30 or more hand-off possessions, Teague is tops in the NBA, scoring 1.16 points per possession and shooting 58.8% on such field goal attempts. Al Horford and Pero Antic deserve credit too for setting the bulk of those screens and making the exchanges that led to those shot attempts.
Story by KL ChouinardTwitter: @AnaheimAmigos