The Atlanta Hawks cannot afford to lose their next two games, which they will play against teams ranked in the bottom three of the league, if they want to move into a guaranteed playoff spot.
The Hawks (35-35) play the Spurs in San Antonio on Sunday afternoon, kicking off that crucial stretch. The NBA’s worst team, Detroit, will play in the second game on Tuesday at home.
Atlanta travels to the Alamo City following a 127-119 home victory over Golden State on Friday. Trae Young scored 25 points, gave out 12 assists, and made crucial plays in the final seconds to secure the victory. Young has now finished the season with 34 double-doubles.
The Hawks, led by John Collins, won by 22 points, 17 of which came in the first quarter, and have won three of their last five games. They are eighth in the East standings, four games behind sixth, which is the last spot they need to avoid the play-in tournament.
In Atlanta’s victory on Friday, Onyeka Okongwu scored 19 points, Bogdan Bogdanovic and De’Andre Hunter each scored 14, AJ Griffin scored 12 points, and Dejounte Murray scored 10.
Young praised the Hawks’ fourth-quarter defense for their victory on Friday after the game.
The Spurs have lost three of their last four games, two of which came in overtime after they had large leads in the second half. The fact that San Antonio trailed Memphis by 29 points just four minutes into the third quarter and let it all slip away made Friday’s 126-120 home loss to Memphis to Memphis’ short-handedness especially painful.
The Spurs had 25 points from Devin Vassell, 24 from Zach Collins, 21 from Keldon Johnson, 18 from Malaki Branham, and 12 from Keita Bates-Diop before leaving with an Achilles injury. San Antonio’s Sandro Mamukelashvili had a game-high 14 rebounds.
The Prods (18-52) were missing key stores Romeo Langford (left adductor), Devonte’ Graham (left quad irritation) and Doug McDermott (right hip injury). Bates-Diop is playing with Achilles soreness, and rookie forward Jeremy Sochan also left after the first period because he aggravated a knee injury.
Gregg Popovich, the coach of San Antonio, attributed the loss to the unfamiliarity of some of his players and praised his team’s perseverance and competitiveness after the game.
On February 11, in Atlanta, the Hawks defeated San Antonio 125-106 to win their first meeting of the year.
