After falling on the road against the Pistons, the Hawks returned home to face the Chicago Bulls.

This will be a game between two of the NBA’s worst defenses and the score could be very high. This is the first meeting of the year between the two teams.

Coming into tonight’s game, Atlanta is 8th in PPG, 16th in field goal percentage, 16th in three-point attempts, 17th in three-point percentage, 5th in field goal attempts free throws, 19th in rebounds and 22nd in turnovers. On Cleaning the glassAtlanta is 10th in points per 100 possessions, 9th in effective field goal percentage, 21st in turnover percentage, 13th in offensive rebounding and 7th in free throw rate.

Defensively, it’s not pretty for the Hawks. They are 28th in PPG allowed, 19th in FG% allowed, 30th in three-point attempts allowed, and 30th in three-point percentage allowed. On Cleaning the Glass, Atlanta is 24th in points allowed per 100 possessions and 28th in effective field goal percentage. Atlanta’s defense will be challenged tonight by Chicago. The Bulls shoot threes at a high rate and have guys who can put up big numbers, especially if LaVine plays.

Still, the Bulls offense as a whole is just average. They are 14th in PPG, 21st in field goal percentage, 3rd in 3PA, 9th in 3P%, 19th in free throw percentage, 5th in rebounding and 24th in turnovers . On Cleaning the Glass, Chicago ranks 25th in points per 100 possessions, 19th in effective field goal percentage, 20th in turnover percentage, 27th in offensive rebounding percentage and 26th in free throw rate .

The Bulls’ defensive numbers aren’t much better than Atlanta’s. Chicago is 27th in PPG allowed, 26th in field goal percentage allowed, 24th in three-point attempts allowed and 4th in three-point percentage allowed. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Bulls rank 18th in points allowed per 100 possessions and 20th in effective field goal percentage.

Trae Young had one of his best games of the season last night and could have another big game tonight. Young collected 35 points on 11-25 shooting and 13 assists. He was 6-12 from three. The Pistons have a much better defense than Chicago and Young could thrive against them.

Dyson Daniels had one of the most impressive games of any player in the NBA this year. He totaled seven steals as well as 18 points. He has been a threat on the defensive end and will be tasked with guarding LaVine if he plays. If not, look for Daniels to guard Coby White.

After a career night on Wednesday, it was a tougher game for Zaccharie Risacher on Friday. He scored seven points on 2-7 shooting and had a rough night on both ends of the floor. There will be ups and downs with him this year and last night was a downer.

Jalen Johnson needed a little to get started last night, but he finished with 20 points and nine rebounds. He had just one assist last night, which is unusual for him.

The center position needs to be better for the Hawks in this game. Clint Capela had 12 rebounds last night against Detroit, but was 3-10 from the field. Onyeka Okongwu also had a rough night, leading to Quin Snyder giving minutes to Larry Nance. Nance had a good night offensively, but the defense when he was there was tough. Okongwu has rested his back this year and it might just be Capela and Nance under center tonight.

The Hawks bench was outmatched last night in Detroit. Garrison Matthews, David Roddy and Keaton Wallace couldn’t find a way to start, though Wallace only played seven minutes. They will need to be able to make more of an impact tonight.

Conformable Fanduel SportsbookAtlanta is a 3 point favorite tonight and the total is set at 237.5.

Playing back to back with trips is tough and this game could really go either way. Chicago is a team that likes to shoot a lot of threes and the Hawks haven’t been good at defending the three. With both of these factors in mind, I like the Bulls to come to Atlanta and pull off the upset against the Hawks.

Final score: Bulls 121, Hawks 118

Additional links:

Hawks vs Bulls: Game Preview, Injury Report, Betting Odds, Projected Lineups for Tonight’s Game

RECOVER: Atlanta Hawks start slow and can’t catch up in 122-121 loss to Pistons