Reinvigorated Hawks with first win of the season against Miami?
The Atlanta Hawks will receive a big visit at home in the form of the Miami Heat. The visitors rank second in the Eastern Conference. Head coach Erik Spoelstra’s team has lost only three of its last ten games and has won both duels with its upcoming opponents so far this season.
Atlanta Hawks – Statistics & current form
The Hawks got a long-awaited home win in the penultimate game against the Bucks. After ten unsuccessful home games, the champions were defeated 121-114 thanks to a fighting performance. In the process, they were able to make up a double-digit deficit at one point.
The victory was therefore very important from a mental point of view and obviously boosted the self-confidence of Head Coach Nate McMillan’s team. In the following game against Minnesota, the next triumph was achieved with 134:122. The results show that especially the offensive is running on all cylinders again.
The reason why the team is only in fourth last place in the East is to be found in the shaky defence: Only Houston and Portland are behind “Hotlanta” in the corresponding NBA rating. On the other hand, their forward play is basically good, as it was last year when they reached the playoffs.
The home side is scoring 113.1 points on 100 possessions – second best in the NBA after Utah!
Miami Heat – Statistics & current form
The basketball players from Florida have earned the successful course of the season so far through an offence that has been stable, just like their opponents. Only the Hornets from Charlotte, the upcoming opponent as well as Utah and Chicago are ahead of Miami in offensive rating.
Tyler Herro in particular would have been looking forward to the upcoming opponent, because in the two recent match-ups he delivered the best output of his team on the court with 21 and 24 points respectively! But now the youngster is in quarantine and has to pass.
In addition, the equally strong guard Kyle Lowry will not play due to personal reasons. For the visitors, these absences are a real weakening, especially since there are still other players in the hospital.
Atlanta Hawks – Miami Heat Tip
Although Miami is second in the East and the home side only occupies the fourth-last place in the Eastern Conference, an exciting duel can still be expected. This assessment is based, among other things, on the fact that the visitors are the strongest team in the East at home, but are less dominant away from home with a win rate of 56 percent.
Furthermore, the home side overcame their previous home curse with a win over the Bucks on the penultimate day of the season, and subsequently proved their upward form with a triumph over Minnesota in front of their own crowd.
For the game of the Atlanta Hawks against Miami Heat, however, the tip aims for more than 34.5 points, rebounds and assists by Jimmy Butler on the side of the visitors. Due to the tense personnel situation with the absences of Herro and Lowry, “Jimmy Bucket” will now be particularly challenged.
In addition, the small forward has to make amends to his team, as he picked up an ejection after only 15 minutes of play time in the last game against Portland due to two technical fouls and thus weakened his team. In addition, the much shortened workday for the 2015 MIP and four-time All-Star has meant that he will now be particularly fresh.
Another factor in favour of the prediction is that the 32-year-old already exceeded the selected limit in his only appearance in the two direct duels this season less than a week ago, although neither Herro nor Lowry were available in that game.
