Atlanta Hawks: Second Half Of Season Starts In San Antonio

The Atlanta Hawks will open up the second half of the NBA season tonight when the team travels to San Antonio to face off with the Spurs. After breaking a four-game losing streak with a win over the Phoenix Suns, the Hawks will be looking to build some momentum going into the second half.

Through the first 41 games of the season, the Atlanta Hawks finished tied, with the Golden State Warriors, for the least amount of wins, 9. With so many high expectations placed on the shoulders of this very young roster, the Hawks have lived up to none of them in the first half of the season. Now, going into the second half of the season, the Hawks will be looking to salvage anything from a season that was lost a long time ago.

Even with the dreadful first 41 games, the Hawks finished the first half of the season on a high note. After losing four in a row, the Hawks took down the Phoenix Suns in Atlanta. The win was much needed with good performances from Kevin Huerter and John Collins, two players who missed significant time in the first half of the season for various reasons. The young core of Huerter, Collins, and Trae, the three players who were thought of as leaders before the season started, are starting to play some of their best basketball as the team moves in the second part of the season.

To open the latter part of the season, the Hawks will travel to Texas to take on the San Antonio Spurs. In the only previous meeting of the season, the Hawks beat the Spurs 108-100 in Atlanta. However, in San Antonio, the Hawks have lost 21 straight games, the longest active home streak against any opponent. The last time the Hawks won a game in San Antonio was in 1997! Bill Clinton was still president. The Hawks have to contend with history, as well as the Spurs.

Coming into this game, the Spurs have an overall record of 17-22. While this isn’t the dominant Spurs teams of old, the current iteration of Spurs is beginning to come together as the season has progressed. The Spurs have won three of their last five games, climbing within one game of the Memphis Grizzlies for the 8th seed.

The newest Hawks players, Jeff Teague and Treveon Graham will be missing from tonight’s game since being trade yesterday. Alex Len, Chandler Parsons, and Jabari Parker are all expected to miss tonight’s game, too.

The Hawks will tipoff with the Spurs tonight at 8:30 P.M. Go Hawks!