ATLANTA vs PHOENIX
When: 3/30/2021 10:00 PM
Where: Phoenix Suns Arena, Phoenix, AZ

TV: 10:00 PM
LINE: -220
PREDICTION: Atlanta Hawks, Phoenix Suns

Oddsmakers currently have Phoenix listed as 5.5 point favorites versus Atlanta while the game’s total is sitting at 222.5.

The Phoenix Suns return from a successful road trip to open a three-game homestand that begins Tuesday against the Atlanta Hawks.

Phoenix went 3-1 on the trip, which concluded Sunday with a 101-97 overtime win over the Charlotte Hornets. The Hawks are 2-3 on their current eight-game road trip after Sunday’s 126-102 loss to the Denver Nuggets.

This will be the first meeting between the two clubs this season, with a return match scheduled for May 5 in Atlanta. They split two games during the 2019-20 season, each winning on their home court.

Phoenix forward Devin Booker scored 35 points against Charlotte, including four 3-pointers that lifted him to No. 3 in franchise history. He has 753 treys, passing Leandro Barbosa (751) and trailing only Steve Nash (1,051) and Dan Majerle (800). Booker leads the team in scoring at 25.1 points.

Booker has a unique connection to one of the Hawks. His father, Melvin Booker, played for Italy’s Olimpia Milano in 2007-08 and was teammates with Atlanta’s Danilo Gallinari. The young Booker, then 12, sometimes played one-on-one against Gallinari.

Deandre Ayton has been hot over the past five games, during which he’s averaged 19.4 points – his season average is 14.8 – with 11.2 rebounds. His streak of making at least two-thirds of his field-goal attempts ended at four games Sunday when made 6 of 11 shots from the floor.

Mikal Bridges had the key defensive stop against the Hornets with 20.4 seconds left in overtime when he successfully contested Devonte’ Graham’s 3-pointer to protect a two-point Phoenix lead.

“A lot of my game is to play defense,” Bridges said. “I just went out and got a stop.”

Suns coach Monty Williams said, “Defensively, his contests are some of the best in the league at his position after a screen. He has a knack for making plays.”

The Hawks were out of sorts against the Nuggets, who were revitalized by the acquisition of three new players at the trade deadline. Atlanta lost its composure a few times early when the team failed to get the benefit of a call.

“Early in the game we got distracted by that and we didn’t make adjustments appropriately and they pretty much controlled the game from start to finish,” Atlanta coach Nate McMillan said.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game,” Atlanta’s Trae Young said. “It’s disappointing losing the way we did.”

The team was thin again Sunday with the absence of De’Andre Hunter, who missed his second straight game with right knee soreness. The team is taking a cautious approach with Hunter since he returned from missing 23 games following surgery on his right knee. He returned to play in two games on the current road trip, but swelling in the knee prompted McMillan to rest him; his availability for Tuesday is uncertain.

“We’re trying to get that (soreness) removed before he gets on the floor again,” McMillan said Sunday. “He hasn’t done anything for the last three days.”

The Hawks will be a bit deeper on Tuesday when veteran guard Lou Williams joins the team. He was acquired at the trade deadline from the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for Rajon Rondo. Williams, who averaged 12.1 points in 42 games for the Clippers this season, grew up in the Atlanta area and played for the Hawks from 2012 to 2014.

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Boston Celtics vs Atlanta Hawks
When: 8:00 PM  ET, Friday, January 13, 2017
Where: Philips Arena, Atlanta, Georgia

TV: 8 p.m. ET, CSN New England (Boston), FSN Southeast (Atlanta)
PREDICTION: Hawks 104, Celtics 101

ATLANTA — Al Horford’s return to Atlanta with the Boston Celtics to face the Hawks for the first time isn’t the only storyline to Friday night’s game.

The Hawks, seemingly in teardown mode only a week or so ago after trading guard Kyle Korver, have won seven in a row to regain first place in the Southeast Division and are no longer listening to trade offers for forward Paul Millsap.

Millsap and Horford, who left during the summer to sign with the Celtics as a free agent, were cornerstones of a team that won 60 games two seasons ago, but it appeared both would be gone when the Hawks lost 10 of 11 games and rumors of a dismantling started to swirl.

The Hawks, though, notified other teams early this week that they planned to hold on to Millsap, a pending free agent, and the turnaround has left Atlanta (22-16) just behind Boston (24-15) for the third-best record in the Eastern Conference.

“I think him staying a part of this group and pushing forward this year is important to us,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said.

“It’s a sigh of relief to know that nothing is going to happen,” said Millsap, who is averaging 17.6 points, 8.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists. “I can focus on basketball, focus on getting this team to the playoffs and, hopefully, get a championship.”

By not trading Millsap, though, the Hawks risk losing him to free agency after the season and getting nothing in return. That is what happened with Horford, who spent the first nine seasons of his NBA career in Atlanta and made the All-Star Game four times like Millsap.

“It will be different for me, you know the first time going back, but I’m looking forward to it,” Horford said.

Horford is averaging 15.3 points, 6.9 records and 4.9 assists for his new team. It will be interesting to see the reaction from Hawks fans at Phillips Arena.

“I realize it is (a big deal) … (but) my approach is the same,” he said. “I’m going to prepare the same. I’m going to do the tings I’m going to do. It’s a new experience for me, but I have a job to do here with our team.”

Millsap hopes that Horford will be appreciated for what he went to Atlanta and the Hawks but that the Celtics don”t leave as winners.

“Al is a good basketball player, but, more importantly on top of that, he is a great guy off the court,” Millsap said. “He did a lot in the community. He is a good friend to a lot of us. He is sadly missed. He is with a good team. It’s going to be good to see him come to Atlanta and play. Fans are excited about it. We are excited about it.”

It will be the third game in four nights over three cities for the Celtics. The Hawks have been off since a victory at Brooklyn on Tuesday.

The Celtics were without five players but still won for the fifth time in six games on Wednesday against Washington at home.

Guard Isaiah Thomas, averaging 28.2 points per game, had 38 against the Wizards and has scored at least 20 points in each of the past 23 games.

“He’s been playing as impressive as I’ve seen someone play,” Horford said.

Guard Avery Bradley, Boston’s second-leading scorer at 18 points per game, has been sidelined because of a strained right Achilles’ tendon, and forward Amir Johnson missed the Washington game with a sprained ankle.

Guard Mike Dunleavy Jr., acquired from Cleveland as part of the return for Korver, will be in uniform as a Hawk for the first time against the Celtics.

It won’t be a normal Atlanta uniform, though. The team will wear blue and lime green throwbacks from the early 1970s.

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Atlanta Hawks vs. Dallas Mavericks
When: 8:30 PM ET, Saturday, January 7, 2017
Where: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, FSN Southeast (Atlanta), FSN Southwest (Dallas)
PREDICTION: Mavericks 103, Hawks 101

Oddsmakers currently have the Hawks listed as 3.5-point favorites versus the Mavericks, while the game’s total is sitting at 197.

The Atlanta Hawks and Dallas Mavericks are each in a state of flux going into Saturday night’s clash at American Airlines Center.

The Hawks have begun what appears to be a roster overhaul by trading popular shooter Kyle Korver to the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers. More deals could be made before the Feb. 23 trade deadline, with Paul Millsap and Thabo Sefolosha likely on the block.

Millsap and Sefolosha, like Korver, are on expiring contracts.

The Hawks (20-16) began Friday in fourth place in the Eastern Conference and with a five-game winning streak. But just two seasons ago, Atlanta went 60-22 to claim the top seed in the East before slumping to 48-34 last year.

That slide, coupled with the uncertain futures of several veterans, had the front office looking for more change. Since last season, the Hawks have also lost starters Al Horford and Jeff Teague.

Millsap, the only starter left from the 60-win team in 2014-15, declined to offer an opinion the franchise’s direction.

“Not my place,” he told reporters. “My job is to get out there and play basketball. I’m going to miss Kyle but other than that, life goes on, the season goes on. You just have to be ready for whatever happens. Right now, we have to win basketball games.”

The Mavericks (11-25) are coming off a demoralizing home loss Thursday night to Phoenix. Not only did the 102-95 setback drop Dallas back into the Western Conference cellar, it likely signaled roster changes to come.

Backup center Andrew Bogut doesn’t necessarily want to leave Dallas, but acknowledged why a trade would make sense. For a team likely headed to the lottery, a big man of Bogut’s value could fetch draft picks and/or young talent needed to rebuild.

Though the Mavericks continue to insist that the playoffs this season remain their goal, losing on their floor to lottery-bound Phoenix was a big blow. Dallas is 4 1/2 games out of eighth in the West.

Dirk Nowitzki has been starting at center with Bogut’s move to the bench. Nowitzki has been working his way back into game shape after missing four weeks with Achilles soreness.

Dallas coach Rick Carlisle isn’t ready to pronounce Nowitzki close to 100 percent. Nowitzki has averaged 11.5 points on 39.1-percent shooting in his six games since coming back.

He scored 13 on 5-of-14 shooting in the loss to the Suns.

“I think it’s too early to judge any of that stuff,” Carlisle said. “Last year there was all that talk about (Chandler) Parsons struggling and I said, ‘Hey, don’t judge it until after the All-Star break’, and that may be what we’re looking at with him.

“This has been a long road, so the good thing is he’s moving better. He’s obviously feeling good, or else we wouldn’t have him out there and we’re a team that’s still trying to put things together, so I don’t know if pinning it on him is the way to go. I don’t think it is.”

Atlanta owns a five-game winning streak against the Mavs, including the last two in meetings in Dallas.

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Korver has averaged nearly 28 minutes of action per game this season and has shot nearly 43 percent from 3-point range for his career. He was in uniform and participated in warm-ups as media reports that he could be traded began to circulate shortly before tip-off.

Hawks public relations officials said they were aware of media reports regarding Korver but could not confirm that the club was considering a trade and had no comment on why he was not playing.

Korver shook teammates’ hands during the final warm-up session before tip-off and spent the first half sitting on the bench, where he remained after the third quarter began.

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Atlanta Hawks vs. Orlando Magic
When: 7:00 PM ET, Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Where: Amway Center, Orlando, Florida

TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Southeast (Atlanta), FSN Florida (Orlando)
PREDICTION: Magic 109, Hawks 106

Oddsmakers currently have the Hawks listed as 3½-point favorites versus the Magic, while the game’s total has not yet been posted.

There is usually a clear signal when the Orlando Magic are playing well. It does not take long to look at the box score to find that key missing ingredient or to watch a game and know something is different.

When young reserve point guard Elfrid Payton is playing well, the Magic are typically a much better team. The former 10th overall pick, who lost his starting spot but still plays the most minutes at point guard, is the key to the success for Orlando, which hosts the Atlanta Hawks at the Amway Center on Wednesday.

“He’s competing,” Magic coach Frank Vogel said about his young point guard last week. “It’s my job to figure out if it’s best to keep him where he is where he is having great success or move him back to the starting lineup.

“I would like to see him do this over a consistent stretch. And I may still keep him where it’s at because he has had success there.”

Payton, known for his passing ability more than anything else, has always been a bit difficult to figure out. He is averaging a career-best 11.4 points per game and dishing out 5.9 assists per game, but his shooting remains a concern.

Payton is shooting 45.3 percent from the floor but just 25.9 percent from beyond the arc. His two-point percentages have improved dramatically, making him a better offensive threat, but his play is still largely inconsistent.

In wins, Payton’s play is significantly better. He averages 13.7 points per game and 7.1 assists per game. He makes 51.4 percent of his field goals and 39.0 percent of his 3-pointers in wins. That includes scoring a career-high 26 points, dishing out 14 assists and making 9 of 12 shots in an 11-point win over the Hawks in mid-December.

As the point guard controlling the tempo and aggression for the team, no player probably has more effect over the Magic than Payton and the production he accumulates.

The same might be said of Atlanta point guard Dennis Schroder.

Like Payton, Schroder came into the league known more for his defense and less for his shooting. The Hawks, though, turned the team over to their young point guard this season after trading longtime starter Jeff Teague.

Schroder is averaging a career-high 17.5 points and 6.3 assists per game thanks to the increased role. He is making 46.3 percent of his shots and 35.5 percent from beyond the arc, both career highs too.

In wins, Schroder averages 19.3 points per game and 6.2 assists per game while making 49.0 percent of his shots and 46.2 percent of his 3-pointers. Schroder also has a massive effect when he gets his offense going. That was proven in the Hawks’ overtime win over the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday.

“I just try to help the team win games,” Schroder told Hawks.com after a recent overtime win over the New York Knicks. “I try to lead the team. Whatever it takes, I try to do it and try to help my teammates out.”

Schroder has done a good job leading the Hawks, putting them in good position in the already crowded Eastern Conference. His game already has taken itself to a new level.

Both the Magic and the Hawks are clearly better when their young point guards play at their best. All eyes will be on them Wednesday.

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A ballyhooed makeover has quickly bogged down. The offense looks stagnant and confused. The defense is struggling to stop anyone.

The Hawks have faded back into NBA purgatory.

Since a 9-2 start raised hopes of another strong run in the Eastern Conference, Atlanta has lost seven straight games – its longest skid since February 2014 – and 10 of the last 11. More troubling, the Hawks haven’t been competitive in many of those games.

The plummet includes six double-digit defeats, including a 36-point rout at home by Detroit and a 44-point embarrassment at Toronto in back-to-back games.

No wonder the Hawks took a bit of hope from their latest setback, a more respectable 102-99 loss to Oklahoma City.

”A step in the right direction,” coach Mike Budenholzer said Tuesday, even while acknowledging ”this is a little bit of uncharted waters.”

Budenholzer has already juggled the lineup, making Thabo Sefolosha a starter and benching Kyle Korver. But there are plenty of troubling issues beyond an aging 3-point specialist – from new center Dwight Howard acclimating to an offense built on motion and making the extra pass, to Kent Bazemore struggling to live up to the huge contract he received this past summer, to Dennis Schroder’s up-and-down play in his first season as the starting point guard.

”We started out the season with the right attitude, the right mindset,” said Paul Millsap, who is battling a sore hip. ”Somewhere down the line, we lost track of who we are.”

Budenholzer was the toast of the league in 2014-15, molding the Hawks into a cohesive unit that was greater than its individual parts. Atlanta ripped off a 19-game winning streak and all five starters shared player of the month, an unprecedented honor.

The Hawks claimed the top seed in the East and got past the second round of the playoffs for the first time since moving from St. Louis in 1968. Even though they were swept by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the conference finals, this looked like a franchise on the rise.

Not anymore.

The Hawks had 12 fewer wins last season than they did the year before, and went out meekly in the second round with another sweep by the Cavaliers. That prompted Budenholzer, who inherited total control over personnel matters after the ouster of general manager Danny Ferry for racially charged comments, to decide on a major shake-up.

Atlanta doled out $70.5 million to Howard, even though his star had faded in recent seasons, allowing longtime Hawks center Al Horford to bolt for Boston. Budenholzer also traded point guard Jeff Teague to Indiana, handing Schroder the keys to the offense.

Those moves raised plenty of eyebrows, as did the $70 million contract for former D-Leaguer Bazemore, but the strong start – which included an impressive road win at Cleveland – seemed to justify Budenholzer’s direction.

Then, suddenly, the Hawks fell apart.

The schedule surely had something to do with it. Atlanta’s slide began when the team headed out on the road for seven of eight games, including a West Coast swing. With all that traveling, there was little time to practice between games, which affected the development of the offense more than anything. It didn’t help that Millsap missed three games.

The Hawks have reached 100 points only two times during their slump.

”We have to move the ball better a lot better than we have,” Howard said.

Atlanta’s next chance to end the streak will be against Miami on Wednesday.

Away from the court, the Hawks are taking some major steps. A state-of-the-art practice facility is under construction. Philips Arena will get a nearly $200 renovation. A D-League farm club is planned for a new arena near Atlanta’s airport.

The ownership group expects to see the same sort of progress on the court.

Budenholzer grudgingly acknowledges that his offseason moves brought more scrutiny to the team’s recent woes, and perhaps made it more difficult to turn things around.

”There’s a little bit of uniqueness of adding Dennis as the starter, Dwight as a new player, and we haven’t been together,” Budenholzer said. ”I hope there’s enough guys who have been here, been through it, that we can kind of self-correct. But is it maybe a little bit tougher? Could be.”

—

Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/paul-newberry .

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Oklahoma City Thunder vs Atlanta Hawks
When: 7:30 PM ET, Monday, December 5, 2016
Where: Philips Arena, Atlanta, Georgia

TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Oklahoma, FSN Southeast (Atlanta)
PREDICTION: Thunder 105, Hawks 103

As usual, everything revolves around guard Russell Westbrook, who has matched the winning streak with five straight triple-doubles – the longest such run in the NBA since Michael Jordan recorded seven in a row in 1989. The Hawks are trending in the other direction with six consecutive losses, their longest slide since March 2014. The last two setbacks have come by an average of 40 points as Atlanta has fallen to 1-9 in its last 10 games, but the players are trying to maintain some perspective. “We just have to stop getting frustrated with each other,” center Dwight Howard told reporters. “I think we got a little frustrated at times on the floor, and it showed. I think we need to do a little better job holding our composure and understand that it won’t be like this the whole season.”

ABOUT THE THUNDER (13-8): In addition to his 28 points, 17 rebounds and 12 assists on Sunday, Westbrook committed 10 turnovers to tie a season high. He was able to do a little more work on the boards than usual when center Steven Adams – the team’s second-leading rebounder – left the game with an ankle sprain that has his status in doubt for Monday. Shooting guard Victor Oladipo, who scored 16 points against the Pelicans, will be trying to improve upon his 28.9 percent mark from 3-point range on the road.

ABOUT THE HAWKS (10-11): Forward Paul Millsap has missed three straight games with a hip injury and is considered day-to-day, and his absence has been felt in a big way. Without its leading scorer (16.1 points), Atlanta has averaged 92 points on 42.3 percent shooting. Among the few bright spots has been shooting guard Tim Hardaway Jr., who has averaged 15.7 points in 25.3 minutes off the bench during Millsap’s absence.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Oklahoma City is 0-3 in the second half of back-to-back sets on the road.

2. Howard has recorded three double-doubles in his last four games and ranks fourth in the NBA behind Westbrook and two others with 14.

3. The home team has won each of the last five meetings.

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Atlanta Hawks vs Toronto Raptors
When: 7:30 PM ET, Saturday, December 3, 2016
Where: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Ontario

TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, FSN Southeast (Atlanta), Sportsnet (Toronto)
PREDICTION: Raptors 112, Hawks 94

TORONTO — The Toronto Raptors are hot, the Atlanta Hawks are not.

The teams meet Saturday night at Air Canada Centre with the Raptors trying to extend their season-best five-game winning streak and the Hawks attempting to stop a five-game losing streak.

The Raptors led all the way Friday night in defeating the Los Angeles Lakers 113-80 at the ACC and the Hawks lost to the Detroit Pistons 121-85 at Philips Arena.

The Raptors (13-6) will be playing the fourth game of a season-long six-game homestand at the ACC, where they are 7-3 this season.

The Hawks (10-10) have lost eight of their past nine games, with the only win coming Nov. 23 at Indiana to the Pacers.

They were 9-2 and tied for the Eastern Conference lead after defeating the Milwaukee Bucks on Nov. 16.

Dennis Schroder had 17 points and 13 assists for the Hawks on Friday. Tim Hardaway Jr. and Mike Muscala each scored 11.

The Raptors likely will have forward DeMarre Carroll back in the lineup. His playing time is being monitored as he entered the season coming off knee surgery.

Carroll was rested Friday night to avoid playing him in back-to-back games with Norman Powell replacing him and responding with 16 points and seven rebounds.

It was not certain which game Carroll would miss.Powell said after the game that he found out during the shootaround on Friday.

“From there, it was just preparing and getting focused on who I’m guarding and what the team wants me to do defensively to take them out of what they are trying to run,” Powell said.

“He’d been a professional young man,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said after Friday’s game. “He puts the work in at game tempo, usually when guys are not playing they kind of go through the motions, feel sorry for themselves. But this young man comes in every day, puts in the work, puts in the time, keeps a positive attitude, understands the situation when winning and is just waiting his turn.

“Just like last year, he was in the D-League for a while and came in and helps us win a (playoff) series. He understands, a mature young man, and I can’t say enough good things about him.”

He will understand if he does not start Saturday.

In the Raptors’ romp past the Lakers, Kyle Lowry again led the way with 24 points. DeMar DeRozan had 16 points as he receives extra attention after a blistering start.

Meanwhile, against the Pistons, Dwight Howard had his worst game with the Hawks, scoring only two points and grabbing six rebounds.

“We’ve got to stay positive,” Howard said. “This little thing we are going through now, even though we don’t want to, I think it’s best we are going through it now and not at the end of the season.

“All the things we need to clean up, offensively and defensively, are being exposed right now. It gives us time to work on it. So come playoff time and later on in the season, we’ll have all that down pat.

“The best thing we can do now is not hold our heads, keep positive, speak life into the situation and keep pushing.”

Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer is obviously not happy with the offense.

“We are not getting the looks that we need to get,” he said. “Then I think it puts a lot of pressure when you do get a good look. There is more of a priority, more of a need, to make those good ones.

“The game gets hard that way. You want to be free-flowing. I don’t think we are getting enough good possessions to make those good looks flow right.”

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Atlanta Hawks vs. Phoenix Suns
When: 9:00 PM ET, Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Where: Talking Stick Resort Arena, Phoenix, Arizona

The slumping Atlanta Hawks will seek to avoid a winless Western swing Wednesday night they visit the Phoenix Suns.

What began as a reasonable trip — matchups with the Utah Jazz, the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix, with the powerful Golden State Warriors interspersed — turned into a bit of a nightmare after 27- and 15-point drubbings at the hands of the Jazz and Lakers.

Hawks players held a no-coaches meeting in Los Angeles, and it apparently made a positive impact. They led at Golden State for the better part of three periods Monday night before falling just short at the end, 105-100.

Atlanta coach Mike Budenholzer applauded the players’ meeting.

“If they want to talk and hammer some things out, that’s usually a good thing,” the longtime San Antonio Spurs assistant said Monday in Oakland.

Atlanta (10-8) lost six of its past seven after a 9-2 start despite strong play by veteran big man Dwight Howard.

The NBA’s career leader among active players in rebounds and blocked shots had a 14-point, 16-rebound performance at Golden State.

Three games earlier, he led a win over the Indiana Pacers with 23 points and 20 rebounds, the 46th 20-20 game of his career.

Howard figures to get some resistance Wednesday night from fellow veteran Tyson Chandler, who had a big game of his own — 10 points, 15 rebounds — his last time out, Sunday against the Denver Nuggets.

Chandler missed eight of the Suns’ previous 10 games while dealing with the death of his mother earlier this month.

Howard (12.8 rebounds per game) and Chandler (12.0) rank third and fifth, respectively, in the league on the boards this season.

A matchup with the Suns might be just what the doctor ordered for the Hawks. Phoenix (5-13) has the second-worst record in the West and is coming off a 120-114 home loss to Denver.

Point guard Eric Bledsoe poured in a career-best 35 points in the defeat, but he faces a stiffer challenge Wednesday in Hawks counterpart Dennis Schroder.

Atlanta’s first-year starter not only contributed a team-high 24 points to the loss at Golden State, but he also helped harass Warriors star Stephen Curry into 6-of-17 shooting.

While Schroder was too quick at times for Curry, he will have to deal with Suns guard Devin Booker on Wednesday.

As Schroder did with Curry, Booker accepts the challenge to be as good on the defensive end as on offense.

“If you want to be great, that’s the role you’ve got to take on,” Booker, addressing the media at practice Tuesday, said of being a defensive stopper. “You’ve got to be a two-way player. All the great players in the league are two-way players.”

When the Hawks last saw the Suns, they couldn’t handle Booker on the offensive end. Booker had 34 points, his second-best output as a rookie, when the Suns lost at Atlanta last April.

Booker has four 30-point games this season, including one Sunday in the loss to Denver, giving him a total of 10 in his career.

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TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, FSN Southeast (Atlanta), CSN Bay Area (Golden State)
PREDICTION: Warriors 110, Hawks 95

OAKLAND, Calif. — The Golden State Warriors will seek to extend their winning streak to 12 games when they host the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night.

The Warriors (15-2) saw their run of 10 straight games with at least 30 assists end Saturday during a 115-102 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

However, Golden State shot 55.6 percent from the field and hit half of its 22 3-point attempts. The Warriors got 34 points from Stephen Curry, 28 from Kevin Durant and 23 from Klay Thompson.

The Warriors are 7-0 when Curry, Durant and Thompson all score at least 20 points in the same game.

Golden State began a five-game homestand with the comfortable win over Minnesota despite being without Draymond Green, who sat out because of a sprained left ankle. He is questionable for the Monday game.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr said Green was missed.

“It was just not having Draymond out there,” Kerr said while discussing the team’s 25 assists, five shy of keeping alive the NBA’s second-longest, all-time streak of 30-plus assists. “It changes our ball movement and the force that we played with. He’s handling the ball so often for us that you take him out of there, it changes things.”

Kevon Looney made his first career start in Green’s place and contributed six points, three rebounds, two assists and one steal to the win.

The Warriors will be facing an Atlanta team that played Sunday night in Los Angeles against the Lakers.

Coincidentally, Golden State entered their Saturday game against the Timberwolves under the same circumstances, having beaten the Lakers 109-85 the night before.

The Hawks (10-7) had no such luck in Los Angeles, losing 109-94. It was their fourth defeat in five games.

Atlanta’s one and only visit to Oakland this season means another chance for Warriors fans to ridicule longtime rival Dwight Howard’s free-throw shooting.

The Warriors intentionally fouled Howard on multiple occasions in his only visit last season as a member of the Houston Rockets. With the fans screaming in his ears, Howard obliged by missing eight of 10 from the line.

He is just 145 of 248 (58.5 percent) from the line in his career against the Warriors, having made 6 of the past 20. Often intentionally, the Warriors put Howard at the line an average of 9.5 times in his 26 career visits.

The veteran, a former Laker, responded to unappreciative former fans in Los Angeles on Sunday night with 19 points and nine rebounds. He did, however, miss four of five from the line.

Howard insisted after the game that the fans didn’t bother him.

“I closed my ears,” he said. “(The Lakers) are playing good basketball.”

The Warriors swept the two-game series from the Hawks last year, but it was a struggle.

The second meeting, in Oakland, went to overtime, with the Warriors needing a 15-point, 13-rebound, nine-assist, four-steal effort from Green in order to prevail.

Golden State was missing Curry (sprained left ankle) that night.

The win, the Warriors’ third straight over the Hawks and eighth in the past nine meetings, allowed Golden State to take a 143-142 lead in the all-time series between the rivals, who first met in 1950 as the Philadelphia Warriors and the Tri-Cities Blackhawks.

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