The Hawks will head to Charlotte with the same injury report they carried into Wednesday’s opener, and there are no surprises on it. Mouhamed Gueye, dealing with a left foot fracture, is out, and Henri Veesaar, who has a torn right ACL, is also unavailable.
Veesaar is already out for the season after tearing his ACL in a workout in September, while Gueye is still working his way back from the foot injury he suffered over the summer.
Atlanta already opened the year with a divisional win, and now it gets another early shot at the East with a Friday night road game against the Hornets. Charlotte is coming off a win of its own, having beaten the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday without either Kon Knueppel or Coby White.
Even without LaMelo Ball or Miles Bridges anymore, the Hornets still have enough talent to make things difficult at home. They also have a chance to start 2-0, which puts a little more pressure on Atlanta to bring a sharper effort than it showed in stretches against Orlando.
The Hawks got the job done in that one, but it took work. They had rough patches in the first and third quarters, then flipped the script with stronger play in the second and fourth. Foul trouble complicated things for both Lu Dort and Jalen Johnson, but Atlanta got the kind of lift it needed from Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Dyson Daniels.
Alexander-Walker was the big scoring punch, pouring in 22 of his team-high 31 points after halftime on 10-of-21 shooting. He also delivered eight points in clutch time and buried two crucial threes late to help put the game out of reach.
Daniels may draw attention for his three-point shooting, but his line against Orlando was about much more than that. He finished with 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting and went 4-for-6 at the free-throw line, while also adding five steals, four rebounds and three assists in 34 minutes.
Atlanta will try to put together a cleaner full game in Charlotte, where it has a chance to move to 2-0.
In Other News...
Hawks Win Over Magic Ends With Rivalry Tension Fans Will Notice
The Hawks opened their Southeast Division schedule with a 132-125 win over Orlando, extending their recent edge in the matchup to six straight. It was the kind of game that had enough offense to feel like a statement and enough edge to feel personal, with Paolo Banchero pouring in 35 points for the Magic while Jalen Johnson answered with 20 points and 14 rebounds for Atlanta.
The competitive tone carried into the final seconds, and the finish had a little more bite than a typical regular-season opener. After the final horn, the emotions spilled over between Banchero and Johnson, with teammates and staff stepping in to calm things down and keep the moment from turning into something bigger. [Read more 🡒]
Quin Snyder May Already Have A New Hawks Closer
In the Hawks season opener against the Magic, Aaron Wiggins quickly found himself in the kind of role teams usually reserve for players they trust when the game tightens. Quin Snyder leaned on him for meaningful minutes throughout the night, a sign that the newcomer was not just filling space in the rotation but was already being treated like someone who could stay on the floor when it mattered.
Wiggins rewarded that trust with a steady two-way showing, mixing scoring with activity on the glass and in the passing lanes while knocking down shots from deep. For a Hawks team still sorting out its late-game identity this early in the season, the bigger question is how long this level of confidence from Snyder lasts and whether Wiggins can keep turning opportunity into a closing role. [Read more 🡒]
Nickeil Alexander-Walker Is Giving The Hawks Something They Desperately Needed
Nickeil Alexander-Walker gave Atlanta exactly the kind of steady offensive lift it has been hunting for, and he did it at a time when the Hawks needed every bit of it. Against Orlando, he stepped into a bigger scoring role and helped push Atlanta to a win, with his teammates making sure he had the kind of support that let him stay aggressive throughout the night.
What stood out most was how he did it without trying to make more of it than it was. Alexander-Walker said he plans to keep being himself and keep his focus on the team, which is the kind of answer the Hawks can appreciate as they look for more nights like this one. The bigger question now is whether this is a one-off surge or the start of a more reliable option in the rotation. [Read more 🡒]