Just 48 hours following their first loss of the new season, the Atlanta Hawks look to get revenge on the Houston Rockets as the two teams close out their regular season series on Monday. The Hawks jumped out to an early lead in that game, but as time went on the Rockets simply got hot and built a 20-point lead at one stage, ultimately winning by 7 points. Despite the defeat, I wouldn’t be discouraged if I were Atlanta. They simply did not execute the long shot, but other than that they had more offensive rebounds, more assists, more fastbreak points and more points in the paint. Jalen Johnson has been a mystery to opposing defenses, when he takes that next step in his growth and develops a consistent three-ball shot the rest of the NBA is in trouble.
Houston’s start to the season has been nothing but magical so far. Considering all 3 wins so far came with Steven Adams sidelined, this team can only get better as time goes on. Fred VanVleet’s play making is making a huge difference for them, it has allowed Amen Thompson to play a more natural role on the roster, the league is still buzzing after his game winning block on Wembanyama a couple of nights ago. Defensively the Rockets rank 4th in opponent rebounds and 5th in opponent three-point percentage. That’s been a staple of Ime Udoka’s teams for years now, if they can maintain that level of play on the defensive end I can definitely see them finishing as one of the top 3 teams in the West.
Believe it or not the Rockets have won 5 consecutive meetings in this match-up, sweeping the last two regular season series. I have a feeling this Hawks team is well aware of that, they are young and hungry to get revenge. The odds are against them here, but if they can fix the deep ball ahead of Monday’s game they’ll be fine in my opinion. I’ll back the Hawks plus the points.
Hawks vs Rockets Predictions: Hawks +5.5 is available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.
