Hawks vs. Bulls Preview: 3 Things to Watch in NBA Cup Matchup

Kingston Flemings got his first NBA start Nov. 4 in Washington, the night Hawks coach Quin Snyder moved CJ McCollum to the bench. The rookie scored 14 in a 120-105 win and started the next two games as well. Now the Atlanta Hawks are waiting on his back. Flemings is questionable with a lumbar spasm for Friday night’s game against the Chicago Bulls, according to the NBA’s 11 a.m. ET injury report.

McCollum stayed in the second unit when Jalen Johnson came back from a sprained left ankle Nov. 7. On Monday against the Los Angeles Lakers, he scored 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting.

Both guards hit a 3 off a Dyson Daniels pass in that game. A Flemings scratch would reopen the lineup question Snyder answered last week, and McCollum is the first player that question points to.

Caleb Wilson broke his right hand reaching in on Victor Wembanyama on Wednesday. The Bulls lost that game 124-119. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported a four-to-six-week absence for Wilson, who had scored 18.9 points a game in his first 10 NBA appearances. Chicago is also waiting on Norman Powell’s back. He has missed two games with low back spasms and remains questionable.

Atlanta had 12 steals Monday and forced 16 Lakers turnovers. Daniels took three of his four from Walker Kessler, and two of those came 47 seconds apart early in the third quarter, with Los Angeles up 72-57. The Hawks scored the next 9 points.

Daniels went a little more passive on defense last season. This year he is trying to be more aggressive on the ball.

“It’s definitely a scheme thing,” Daniels said. “We have really good defenders on this team, and for us, we want to turn people over. We want to make people work. We want to pick up full court.”

Daniels went 4-of-4 from the field Monday and had 10 points, 6 rebounds, and 8 assists in 30:54. Six of those assists led to 3-pointers. Nickeil Alexander-Walker made three of them, and Onyeka Okongwu, Flemings, and McCollum made one each.

His driving floater made it 115-111 with 3:30 left. Ziaire Williams then stole a Johnson pass at 2:22 and dunked, and Jake LaRavia’s cutting dunk off a Luka Dončić assist made it 121-111. Atlanta did not score again until McCollum’s 3 with 1:12 to go. The Hawks won the fast-break points 20-17, but Los Angeles scored 29 off their 20 turnovers.

Daniels put the late possessions on Atlanta’s pace.

“I think we started playing slow, and then they’re very good at loading up on people and loading up on drives and being in the passing lanes and stuff,” Daniels said. “... We need to get stops to get out and run.”

Mouhamed Gueye remains out, though he has progressed to on-court activities after a July foot fracture.

Atlanta is 7-5 and won its Emirates NBA Cup opener 139-132 over the Washington Wizards on Nov. 6. Chicago is 1-9.

Tip-off at the United Center is 8 p.m. ET. Atlanta News First and Peachtree Sports Network have the game in Georgia, and CHSN has it in Chicago.