The Atlanta Hawks (20-20) will take on the Oklahoma City Thunder (17-23) Thursday evening looking for their seventh straight victory. The Hawks took down the sputtering Houston Rockets with a 119-107 win on Tuesday, and will look to move over .500 for the first time since early January.
The Thunder beat Atlanta 118-109 in the first matchup between these two teams in late February, in what was one of the more underwhelming performances for the Hawks this season. They had just 21 assists as a team and shot 30% from three-point range.
Oklahoma City is 5-5 in its last 10 games, and sits 12th in the Western Conference standings. Atlanta now sits as the No. 6 seed in the East on the heels of a six-game win steak, and could really use one more win before heading on a gauntlet of an eight-game west coast road trip this weekend.
The Hawks now sit ninth in the NBA with a +1.2 net rating, an impressive mark considering all of the injuries they have endured as a unit. Winners of seven of their last ten, they have laid the groundwork for the run they needed to catapult back into the Eastern Conference race.
Injuries
Atlanta will again be without De’Andre Hunter, Kris Dunn and Cam Reddish on Thursday, while it is possible that both Hunter and Dunn return at some point on the upcoming road trip, according to statements made by Travis Schlenk on 92.9 The Game earlier this week. Reddish has been confirmed to be out for at least another few weeks. Clint Capela and Onyeka Okongwu are questionable.
For Oklahoma City, Georgia Hill and Darius Bazley have been ruled out, while Lu Dort and Theo Maledon are questionable.
The Line
Thursday will mark the sixth consecutive game in which the Hawks have been the favorite. The last time the Hawks were the underdog was March 2, when they were 2-point dogs in Miami when they beat the Heat, who were missing Jimmy Butler.
Atlanta is currently a 7-point favorite over the Thunder as of early Thursday morning.
Game Date/Time: Thursday, Mar. 18, 7:30 pm ET
Location: State Farm Arena
TV: Fox Sports Southeast, NBA League Pass (out of market)
Radio: 92.9 The Game (Atlanta); Hawks Radio Network
Streaming: Fox Sports Go