Atlanta Hawks vs Toronto Raptors Prediction: Hawks have to get revenge

Atlanta has lost four of the last five head-to-head encounters, and the Hawks have already lost on the road by 30 points this season. Will the Hawks be able to get revenge for their recent devastating defeat?

Last season, the Hawks were among the worst in the league in defensive play, and now they are 12th in the NBA Defensive Rating. The emergence of Dejounte Murray has really benefited Atlanta, which has become more reliable defensively at the arc. Murray is 4th in the NBA in average steals, while his efficiency on the offensive end has not wavered and he's even been better at shooting free throws. Trae Young, on the other hand, feels out of place, even though he was excited about having a new star backcourt partner this offseason. Young still can't get over the 40-percent shooting mark, although he's averaging 26.9 points per game. Bogdan Bogdanovic still isn't ready to play, but rookie A.J. Griffin is slowly gaining the coaching confidence.

In their last 5 games, Nate McMillan's team has suffered 3 losses, but they still share third place in the Eastern Conference with Cleveland. Last game, Atlanta fell short against Boston, 101-126. Young, Murray and Collins had a good game overall, but the bench did nothing to help the club's leaders. Jalen Johnson and A.J. Griffin did not have a single shot from beyond the arc, making a combined total of 8 shots, and Onyeka Okongwu and Aaron Holiday were barely noticeable. The Hawks shot 21.9% from three-point range and that was one of the main reasons for their loss. The fact that Atlanta won the foreign battle and had fewer turnovers: they did not make much use of their extra 13 shots on the court.

The Raptors found themselves in a very difficult situation as they lost six rotation players at once. Pascal Siakam is one of the club's leaders on both ends of the floor, Gary Trent Jr. also makes the starting five, and Otto Porter is almost certainly Toronto's most valuable reserve. Precious Achiuwa, Chris Boucher and Dalano Banton are also on injured reserve, so the coach had to rebuild the front line first. Thaddeus Young got more playing minutes right away and rookie Christian Koloko will probably be used more often in some games.

Nevertheless, the Raptors have been successful with their losses this season. Toronto won their last 2 games and moved up to 6th place in the Eastern Conference. OG Anunoby has taken over the leadership role, averaging a season-high 18.3 points behind Fred Vanvliet and Pascal Siakam. VanVleet has hit less than 40 percent of his shots from the field in meetings he has won, and not only Scottie Barnes, but even Dalano Banton and Malachi Flynn have been more effective than him.

In the last game, Anunoby scored 32 points, hitting 13 of 18 shots from the field, and Toronto defeated Miami 112-104. In addition to Anunoby, Barnes and Young were notable, as well as Boucher, who came off the bench. Nick Nurse's team proved that they are among the NBA leaders in offensive rebounding for a reason and they won the game cleanly at home. That shouldn't have been too difficult to do, as their opponent played without Bam Adebayo.

Toronto's results are impressive amid losses, but now the Canadian club is facing its most serious opponent. Compared to the previous game, the Raptors' roster is even weaker due to the absence of Boucher, while Atlanta has almost all of their strongest players ready to take the floor. Trae Young is slowly figuring out his game and his shot attempts are slowly but surely growing. It's important for the visitors to collect a lot of offensive rebounds, and that won't be easy against Clint Capela, John Collins and Onyeka Okongwu. The Raptors gave even a weakened Miami a lot of open shots that even Nikola Jovic shined. The Hawks have to beat such an opponent. Our prediction for the Atlanta vs Toronto matchup is as follows:

• H1 (-4.5) for 1.818;
• TU (225.5) for 1.93;
• Trae Young TO (26.5) for 1.86.

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