Kings vs. Hawks Preview – By the Numbers

December 29, 2023

After a disappointing loss to the Blazers, the Kings continue their road trip in Atlanta to take on the 12-18 Hawks. Atlanta comes into the game extremely one sided with the 5th ranked offense but the 27th ranked defense. A lot of people are talking about the Kings lack of defense against Portland, but there was also a showing of lack of offense against the 19th ranked defense in Portland. Let’s see what may be in store for the Kings to get back on track tonight.

The Hawks are a very interesting offense in the fact that they are ranked so high but shoot 47.2% from the field (16th) and 37.2% from 3 (12th). The make 19.6 FTs per game (8th) at a 83.2% clip from the line (3rd), but nothing stands out in terms of scoring when looking at percentage. What they really excel in is getting second chance opportunities.

Atlanta is 3rd in the league with 13.0 Offensive Rebounds per game and 6th with 15.8 2nd Chance Points. Clint Capela is leading the way with 4.8 Offensive Rebounds per game, most in the NBA by a wide margin. The difference between him and 2nd place Rudy Gobert’s 3.6 is the same as the difference between 2nd and 25th in the NBA. Safe to say, Capela is a beast on the offensive boards.

On defense though, there are multiple weaknesses that the Kings can try and take advantage of. The Hawks are allowing opponents to shoot 50.0% from the field (3rd highest) and 38.3% from 3 (5th). Only the Pacers are giving up more shots than the Hawks at the rim. Atlanta’s opponents take 30.8 FGAs in the Restricted Area per game. The Kings don’t need to hit from both spots on the floor tonight, but they should be able to get going from at least one or the other against the Hawks poor defense.

Fox and Sabonis continue to have All-Star caliber seasons, but the rest of the roster had a let down of a game on Tuesday. The two stars combined for 77 Points, but the rest of the roster chipped in just 36 Points against the Blazers. The bench in particular has had a rough stretch of games over the last 3 games.

Malik Monk is asked to do a lot for this team, but him having an injury can’t decimate the Kings bench numbers. One of the issues is that none of the other reserves has the ability to get their own shot like Monk, and if they aren’t hitting their threes, there aren’t many other ways that they can score.