Two of the most dynamic young talents in the NBA meet on Saturday when the Atlanta Hawks visit the Memphis Grizzlies. Atlanta’s point guard Trae Young will face off against Memphis point guard Ja Morant, as the two second-year stars lead their respective teams. Atlanta opened its regular season by defeating the Chicago Bulls 124-104 on the road at the United Center. Atlanta is tied for first place in the Southeast Division with Orlando at 1-0 while the other three teams in the division each lost their opening games.
Memphis opened its regular season with a 131-119 loss at home to the San Antonio Spurs but not at the fault of point guard Morant who scored 44 points for the Grizzlies. However, the Memphis defense could not contain the Spurs' offense and trailed by 13 points at halftime. Memphis has lost 17 of its last 26 opening games at home, but had won six of the last eight prior to Wednesday's loss. Memphis opened its season without Jaren Jackson Jr who underwent meniscus surgery during the offseason and Justise Winslow, who is recovering from hip displacement.
Trae Young starting the season off well
Trae Young led the Atlanta Hawks in their opening night victory over Chicago with 37 points and also was the leader for the Hawks in assists with seven. Young hit 10 of his 12 shots to shoot 83.3% and five of his six 3-point attempts. The Hawks point guard also connected on 12 of his 14 free throws. Offseason acquisition Bogdan Bogdanovic is already proving his worth scoring 15 points and pulling down a team-high seven rebounds in the opening game. Overall, Atlanta shot 53.8% and 40.0% from long distance.
Atlanta hauled down 38 rebounds including eight off the offensive glass, and handed out 24 assists but committed 21 turnovers. Defensively, Atlanta had 38 rebounds, six steals and three blocked shots.
Injury Report: Clint Capela, Kris Dunn, Onyeka Okongwu, Rajon Rondo and Tony Snell are all questionable for Atlanta on Saturday. Each of the five players did not play in the opening game for Atlanta.
Ja Morant Has Impressive opening night for Memphis
Although the Memphis Grizzlies were losers in their home opener on Wednesday, Ja Morant was impressive starting his second season with the Grizzlies. The point guard scored 44 points and dished out a team-high nine assists. Morant hit 66.7% of his shots including 50% from long distance and was 7-for-8 at the charity stripe. As a team, Memphis shot 51.6% overall and 37.0% from long distance. Three other players besides Morant scored in double-figures on opening night. Jonas Valanciunas grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds for the Grizzlies.
On defense, Memphis gave up way too many points at 131 and allowed San Antonio to hit 50.5% of their field goals and 40.0% of their shots from long distance. The Grizzlies grabbed 37 boards off the defensive glass, made 6 steals and blocked 8 shots .
Injury Report: Jaren Jackson Jr, Jontay Porter, Killian Tillie, and Justise Winslow are questionable for Memphis, while Xavier Tillman is out indefinitely.
Notable Trends
- Memphis is 3-8 ATS in the last 11
- Atlanta is 10-5 ATS in the last 15 against a Western Conference team
