Starting Lineups: Celtics vs Hawks
The Celtics are going to be without two key players tonight with Jrue Holiday and Derrick White already ruled out and the Hawks are down seven players. It was going to be interesiting to see the starting lineups for both teams tonight and they were just revealed.
Dejounte Murray, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Vit Krejci, De'Andre Hunter, and Clint Capela will be the first five on the floor for the Hawks.
Boston is starting Sam Hauser, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Al Horford, and Kristaps Porzingis.
The Hawks continue their five game homestand tonight with a matchup against the Boston Celtics, the team on a nine-game winning streak and that has the best record in the NBA. The Celtics are playing at a historically good level right now and are the clear favorites to come out of the Eastern Conference.
The Hawks on the other hand are hanging on to the last spot in the play-in tournament and have seven key players out with injuries in this matchup tonight. Atlanta is going to be a big underdog on their home floor tonight and they will have an uphill battle on their hands to make a game of it.
The first thing is to have another big game from Dejounte Murray. Murray scored 28 points in the win over Charlotte on Saturday night and has been having to carry the Hawks offense with Young out. Murray does not always have the most efficient games with Young out, but it is hard for the Hawks to beat good teams if Murray does not have a big scoring night.
What would help Murray is if the supporting cast also stepped up. Bogdan Bogdanovic, De’Andre Hunter, Vit Krejci, and Clint Capela are all going to have to step up tonight. Capela has had a double-double in seven of his last night games and while Boston is not a bad rebounding team, they are not one of the league’s best either. Capela and Bruno Fernando will be manning the center position for Atlanta tonight and Fernando is coming off of his best game as a Hawk. He scored a career-high 25 points and he will be a key player for the Hawks off the bench tonight.
The Hawks come into this game 5th in PPG, 21st in field goal percentage, 7th in three-point attempts, 17th in three-point percentage, 1st in offensive rebounding, and 13th in turnovers. Per Cleaning the Glass, Atlanta is 9th in points per 100 possessions, 18th in effective field goal percentage, 9th in turnover percentage, 5th in offensive rebounding percentage, and 9th in free throw rate.
Boston is currently 6th in PPG allowed, 2nd in field goal percentage allowed, and 3rd in three-point percentage allowed. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Celtics are 3rd in points allowed per 100 possessions and 2nd in effective field goal percentage.
It is not just the defense that the Hawks should be worried about. Boston has one of the league's best offenses and a big reason for that is they are one of the best three-point shooting teams in the NBA and they shoot the most threes in the NBA. Every player on the Celtics is dangerous as a shooter and it makes them very difficult to defend. Atlanta has been up and down defensively over the past 14 games and they are going to have their hands full tonight.
Boston is 2nd in the NBA in PPG, 9th in field goal percentage, 1st in three-point attempts, 22nd in free throw attempts, 13th in offensive rebounding, and 2nd in turnovers. Per Cleaning the Glass, Boston is 1st in points per 100 possessions, 1st in effective field goal percentage, 3rd in turnover percentage, 10th in offensive rebounding percentage, and 17th in free throw rate.
Cover photo courtesy of: Kevin C. Cox/GettyImages
