Hawks at Nets
Brooklyn looks to strengthen its playoff chances and deliver some
payback when it hosts Atlanta on Wednesday in the continuation of a
three-game homestand. After winning six straight and 10 of 12 to vault
into seventh place in the Eastern Conference, the Nets were crushed
131-99 in a visit to the Hawks on Saturday.
Behind 32 points from surging center Brook Lopez, Brooklyn rebounded to knock off Portland two nights later at home, and enters this one trailing sixth-place Milwaukee by two games and leading eighth-place Boston by one. With the top seed in the East locked up, Atlanta has been resting players from time to time, but it went hard at Brooklyn early in Saturday's encounter. Unfortunately for the Hawks, leading scorer and rebounder Paul Millsap left the court late in the first half with a shoulder injury that kept him out of Tuesday's 96-69 rout of Phoenix and will sideline him for the visit to Brooklyn. The win over the Suns gave Atlanta a franchise-record 58 victories.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, SportSouth (Atlanta), YES (Brooklyn)
ABOUT THE HAWKS (57-19): While Millsap was sidelined, the other four regular starters played at least 24 minutes in Tuesday's blowout. Wednesday marks the squad's final back-to-back in which the second game is on the road, which may mean a night of rest for some of the big guns, namely point guard Jeff Teague, who is four games removed from a sprained ankle. Teague, DeMarre Carroll and Mike Muscala scored 16 points apiece and Muscala had four steals against the Suns.
ABOUT THE NETS (36-41): Brooklyn is 15-10 since acquiring forward Thaddeus Young and 9-6 with him in the starting lineup, and the veteran has taken his game to another level this month. He had 20 points on 9-of-16 shooting in 42 minutes in the win over Portland and is averaging 18.8 points while shooting 62.3 percent from the field in April. Oddly enough, Young has missed his last 10 3-pointers after a hot stretch from beyond the arc to begin his career with the Nets.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Atlanta has won four straight meetings overall, the last three by double digits.
2. Hawks PG Dennis Schroder had six points and four assists in 15 minutes against Phoenix after missing the previous two games with a toe injury.
3. Nets SF Joe Johnson is 2-for-15 from the floor over his last two games.