Dec. 30, 2016: Five things learned about the Hawks
Five things we learned about the Hawks on Friday:
1. The Hawks were without reserve forward Ryan Kelly for a second straight day as he remained in North Carolina following the birth of a child. Kelly is scheduled to rejoin the Hawks for Sunday's game against the Spurs.
2. Rookie Taurean Prince makes his NBA Development League debut tonight as he plays for the Long Island Nets against the Delaware 87ers. "We believe in the work before and after practice but you also have to get game reps," Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. "The D-League is a great opportunity for those young guys to get those game reps."
3. In the Pistons' 121-85 victory over the Hawks on Dec. 2, Dwight Howard was held to just two points and six rebounds in the loss. Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said his team did not do anything special to stop the center. "He just had a bad game," Van Gundy said.
4. Howard has a field goal percentage of .806 (50 of 62) over the past seven games and is averaging 18.0 points. On the season, he is third in the NBA in field goal percentage at .647. He trails on the Jazz's Rudy Gobert (.695) and the Clippers' DeAndre Jordan (.661).
5. Dennis Schroder moved into the top spot on the Hawks scoring list as he leads the team with a 17.6 per game average on the season.
About the Author
Chris Vivlamore is the sports editor at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has served as reporter and editor at the AJC since 2003.
