Hawks vs Bulls: Starting Lineups

The Atlanta Hawks and the Chicago Bulls are getting ready to tip off in Chicago and both teams just announced their starting lineups.

Hawks

G- Keaton Wallace

G- Dyson Daniels

F- Vit Krejci

F- David Roddy

C- Clint Capela

Bogdan Bogdanovic, Garrison Matthews, Onyeka Okongwu, Dominick Barlow, and Daeqwon Plowden are the only available players for the Hawks off the bench.

Bulls

G- Josh Giddey

G- Coby White

F- Zach LaVine

F- Patrick Williams

C- Nikola Vucevic

This is going to be a very challenging game for the Hawks. The players they will have available tonight will be Dyson Daniels, Vit Krejci, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Garrison Matthews, Clint Capela, Onyeka Okongwu, David Roddy, Keaton Wallace, Daeqwon Plowden and Dominick Barlow. They were able to win the game vs the Suns last night without Johnson and Hunter, but now that Young and Risacher are also out, this is going to be the most challenging situation the Hawks have been in all season when it comes to injuries.

The Hawks have a had a hard time matching up with the Bulls this season and that is when they are healthy. In the first matchup, the Hawks blew a big lead and could not score enough in the 4th quarter. The Bulls dominated the second game and it their last matchup right after Christmas, Atlanta overcame a large defecit to defeat Chicago. If the Bulls win tonight, they will win the season series and own the tiebreaker over the Hawks. With the teams 9th and 10th in the standings, that could be a big deal down the line.

The Bulls defense is not one of the league's best (23rd in points allowed per 100 possessions), but the Hawks offense struggled immensely when both Young and Johnson are off the floor. Can the Hawks find a way to score enough in this matchup? The Bulls offense has done a great job against the Hawks this season, particularly Zach LaVine.

Now, the Hawks have had times this year where guys have stepped up. Keaton Wallace was huge in the Hawks upset win in Boston earlier in the year, Krejci and Matthews had big games last night, and the center duo of Capela or Okongwu is still one of the better ones in the league. The offense is where I have a lot of questions for the Hawks tonight, but they might be able to play solid defense with Daniels, Wallace, and Capela on the floor.

Ahead of last night's game vs the Suns, Atlanta Hawks head coach Quin Snyder was asked about Johnson's progress and when he might be able to return:

"Yeah, he is progressing and we hope to have him back soon."

It is hard to overstate how much he means to the team. Johnson is a terrific rebounder and helps with rim protection, a good on-ball defender, and is the Hawks' second-best offensive creator. He is making a legitimate case to be an All-Star this season with the numbers that he is putting up. He is averaging 19.8 PPG, 10.1 RPG, and 5.3 APG on 51% shooting from the field and 33% from three. He also has an effective field goal percentage of 56% and a true shooting percentage of 58%.

Atlanta does not have a replacement for Johnson when he is gone and that is one of the biggest holes on the team. Not only do they not have a real backup power forward behind him, one of the Hawks's other weaknesses is that they don't have a reliable backup point guard. When Johnson is out of the lineup, Atlanta loses their best frontcourt player, and one of their best ball handlers as well. He has the highest plus/minus (+2.4) on the team for a reason.