Atlanta Hawks Face Hornets in the Queen City

The Atlanta Hawks (2-1) will complete part two of their spaced out back-to-back with the Charlotte Hornets (0-2) at the Hive in Charlotte’s home opener.

The Atlanta Hawks will play their first road game in the Southeast Division of 2015-16 when they travel to Time Warner Cable Arena to face the Charlotte Hornets in their home opener. Atlanta beat the Hornets 97-94 on Friday night in part one of a two-part series over the course of three days.

Back-to-backs against the same team tends to favor the team that lost the opener in the second game. I remember splitting back-to-backs with both the Orlando Magic and the Milwaukee Bucks last year. Hopefully the Atlanta Hawks can complete the two-game sweep over rival Charlotte in the Queen City.

Because back-to-backs are all about making subtle adjustments against a familiar opponent, we likely won’t see some of the same trends we saw in Game 1 on Friday night. Charlotte probably won’t shoot 40% from three-point range this afternoon. Neither will starting SF Nicolas Batum commit seven turnovers. Atlanta will have Kyle Korver available and probably won’t let a big lead slip late in the ball game.

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For Atlanta to complete the two-game sweep, the Hawks will need to play better perimeter defense and make sure that C Al Jefferson doesn’t have his way down low. Big Al didn’t dominate the game like the former All-NBA 3rd Teamer can do in Game 1. Should defense take precedence in the Atlanta Hawks’ game plan, they can beat Charlotte to move to 3-1 on the year.

Since this is still in the 2015-16 NBA Season’s infancy, there are many things I’m curious about this team’s identity. How do the newcomers fit into the system? Can both Kyle Korver and Thabo Sefolosha play themselves back into good health? Is this team actually deep than last year’s club?

I’d love to see both Tim Hardaway Jr. and Shelvin Mack get some minutes this afternoon. They are the only two Atlanta Hawks to have not made their season debut yet. Hardaway is still learning HC Mike Budenholzer’s system. Mack may just be buried on the depth chart at guard.

Hopefully both Korver and Sefolosha can play together defensively to slow down the Hornets from the outside in today’s game. If the Brick City Hornets can shoot 40% from outside, I don’t want to know what sharpshooting San Antonio Spurs or the Golden State Splash Brothers will fare against the Atlanta Hawks from the outside this season.

Next: Atlanta Hawks: Is This an Offensive or Defensive Team?

Ideally, I would want to see the Atlanta Hawks score over 100 points, while holding the Charlotte Hornets to 95 points or less. I consider both thresholds as a good offensive and defensive game, respectively. Friday night’s win makes things a little less dire, but taking a pair against a divisional foe like the Charlotte Hornets is always pleasant. Here’s to the Atlanta Hawks moving to 3-1. Let’s Go Hawks!

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