As the Hawks get set for tonight’s tipoff against the Orlando Magic in the NBA Eastern Conference play-in game for the seventh seed, 92-9 The Game’s Carl Dukes and Mike Bell shared their thoughts on what they believe the biggest challenges Atlanta faces against a team who they split their regular season.
“They give us issues,” Carl Dukes said as he and Mike Bell discussed why they believe how the Hawks may be challenged matching up physically with Orlando as Bell notes he believes the size advantage is in favor of the Magic. “They’re bigger than us in the front court and we really don’t have the size to matchup,” Bell said as he explained why he believes the Hawks are missing rim protection.
However, while both Dukes and Bell agree a Hawks win may be tough to come by tonight, they believe agree a ‘monster night’ performance by Trae Young would be significant in giving Atlanta a chance to pick up the win. “The thing is Trae (Young) has the ability because of their matchup issues to maybe take this game over tonight,” Dukes said as he shared why he believes the absence of Orlando’s Jalen Suggs could play in favor of Young and the Hawks.
“This is got to be playoff Trae. Whatever you need, he might have to provide tonight to win this game to advance into the playoffs,” Dukes said of the importance for Young being able to take advantage of not being guarded by Suggs in tonight’s matchup.