ATLANTA — The Celtics (25-15) could possibly be with out Payton Pritchard after they face the Atlanta Hawks (20—23) on Saturday evening.
Pritchard is uncertain to play as he offers with left ankle soreness; if he’s sidelined, will probably be his first missed recreation of the season. Josh Minott, in the meantime, will miss his seventh consecutive recreation with a left ankle sprain, and Jayson Tatum continues to be sidelined as he recovers from a ruptured Achilles tendon.
Pritchard scored simply 2 factors in Thursday’s comeback win over the Miami Warmth and sat out for all the fourth quarter, whereas his backup, Anfernee Simons, exploded for a season-best 39 factors, 18 of which got here within the fourth quarter. It’s attainable Pritchard’s lowered minutes had been associated to some ankle soreness, although it’s additionally doubtless Joe Mazzulla opted to go along with the new hand.
For the Hawks, former Celtic Kristaps Porzingis is out with left Achilles tendonitis, Zaccharie Risacher is out with a left knee bone contusion, and N’Faly Dante is out with a proper knee ACL tear. Dyson Daniels is questionable with a proper ankle sprain.
The Hawks are having one other mediocre season
The Atlanta Hawks haven’t fairly had the yr they had been hoping for. By all accounts, Atlanta has been a below-average group; they’ve had the NBA’s Nineteenth-best offensive ranking, Sixteenth-best defensive ranking, and 18th-best total internet ranking. They’ve a 20-23 document, which is nice for the Tenth-best document within the convention.
Final week, they parted methods with longtime franchise cornerstone Trae Younger, buying CJ McCollum and Corey Krispert from the Washington Wizards in trade. And, they’ve handled a myriad of accidents, with Porzingis solely showing in 17 of the Hawks’ 43 video games this season, as he’s handled POTS and numerous different accidents.
One shiny spot has been the very good play of Jalen Johnson; the doubtless first-time All-Star has put up monster numbers, averaging 23.1 factors, 10.1 rebounds, and eight.1 assists per recreation. Offseason addition Nickeil Alexander-Walker is tallying 20.5 factors and three.5 assists. And Porzingis has been efficient when he has performed, averaging 17.1 factors and 5.1 rebounds per recreation.
One bizarre quirk is that the Hawks have been higher on the street than at dwelling this season; they’re 7-11 at State Farm Area, however 13-12 at away video games. (The Celtics, in the meantime, are 15-4 at dwelling and 13-6 on the street).
After their win over the Warmth, the Celtics now have the second-best internet ranking within the NBA (+7.1), the second-best offensive ranking (121.5), and the Fifteenth-best defensive ranking. They maintain the second-best document within the Jap Convention at 25-15.
Celtics-Hawks will tip off on Saturday at 7:30pm ET.
