Two of the youngest teams in the NBA meet Wednesday when the Atlanta Hawks host the New York Knicks in their second meeting of the season.
The Knicks (3-8) have an average age of 24.156, the youngest in the NBA. The Hawks (3-7) have 10 players with two years or fewer NBA experience and average 3.31 years, a figure that drops to 2.63 when you take away 20-year veteran Vince Carter.
One of New York’s three victories came in the season opener, a 126-107 victory over Atlanta at Madison Square Garden.
Atlanta is coming off a 113-102 loss to Charlotte on Tuesday. The Hawks have lost five of their last six games.
Atlanta rookie Trae Young scored 18 points against the Hornets, but failed to make a 3-point basket in seven attempts. Atlanta needs Young to be an outside force as it tries to put more emphasis on the perimeter game this season. Young has scored in double figures in every game this season and leads the team
The Hawks played without forward Taurean Prince, the team’s No. 2 scorer, Tuesday. He missed the game with a sprained ankle and will be re-examined again Wednesday.
The Knicks have lost two straight games, most recently 116-115 in double overtime against the Chicago Bulls on Monday. New York is in the middle of a stretch that has it on the road for seven of nine games.
New York has been dealing with injury issues all season. The only Knicks player to start all 11 games is Frank Ntilikina.
Tim Hardaway Jr., a former Atlanta Hawk, missed the last game with a lower back injury. Hardaway is averaging a team-high 23.5 points and is shooting 40.2 percent on 3-pointers. He was the first Knicks player to score at least 24 points in seven of his first eight games since Patrick Ewing did it in 1990. He could play Wednesday.
The Knicks have leaned heavily on Enes Kanter, who averages 15.3 points and 11.7 rebounds. He went for 23 points and 24 rebounds in the loss to the Bulls. Damyean Dotson is averaging 13.2 points and rookie Allonzo Trier is averaging 11.5.
Trier came up with 21 points in getting his first start in place of Hardaway. That’s only two points shy of matching his career high.
New York got rookie Kevin Knox back Monday. He had missed seven games with a sprained left ankle. Knox played five minutes and scored two points against the Bulls. The team is still without Courtney Lee (neck spasms) and Kristaps Porzingis (left knee).
“They’ll keep chopping the tree, they’ll get over the hump,” New York coach David Fizdale said. “I see great character in this team.”
Atlanta announced that forward John Collins will travel with the team on the upcoming road trip, but that his return to the lineup was not likely to occur until Nov. 17 against Indiana.
“The progressions are based more on time,” Atlanta coach Lloyd Pierce told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s not so much on the increased activity just year. But it’s what he’s able to do, which is movement, shooting, lateral movement.”
