The Atlanta Hawks will face their biggest test of the season on Friday night. The team heads to Philadelphia to take on the 76ers and will be without their star in Trae Young. Young is reportedly dealing with an illness and will be unavailable. This will make facing Philly’s stars Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey even a bigger challenge.
The 9-11 Hawks have not been able to play consistent defense and have been in many tight contests they fell just short in. Their last two wins came against two of the worst teams in the NBA in the Spurs and Wizards.
They’ve fallen to the Celtics, Cavaliers, Bucks, and Nets in that same span. The Hawks had their chances but were unable to clamp down and put their opponent away.
The road does not get much easier for the Hawks as they face the defending champion Denver Nuggets and then a back-to-back with Toronto, a team that has always given the Hawks fits. While they await the return of Jalen Johnson, the team needs to find someone else to step up and be a leader on the defensive side of the ball in order to get back on track.
