vs. 
Atlanta Hawks ( 18-7, 6-5 road) vs. Houston Rockets (19-6, 9-4 home)
Everything you need to know:
TV: SportSouth HD
Radio: 92.9 The Game FM
When: Dec. 20, 8:00 EST
Where: Toyota Center
The Hawks begin their mini-Texas road trip with their first stop being at the Toyota Center to face the Rockets before traveling to Dallas for a game Monday evening for a match-up with the revamped Mavericks (and avoiding San Antonio). The Hawks are coming off consecutive victories over the Eastern Conference favorites, Chicago and Cleveland, while the Rockets are coming off a loss to the Pellies in New Orleans Thursday night.
The Hawks will probably be without Jeff Teague (hamstring) for the second-straight game, so expect to see another 20-minute mixture of time between Dennis Schroder and Shelvin Mack once again. In Cleveland, Schroder gathered his first double-double and Mack shot 6-for-6 from deep, so we’ll see if they can keep up that play against the pesky, bulldog point guard Patrick Beverley and the suddenly rejuvenated Jason Terry of the Rockets.
The Rockets also acquired Corey Brewer from the Minnesota Timberwolves earlier this week, so it should be interesting to see whether or not he’s thrust into a very thin rotation outside of the Rockets starting five. Houston head coach Kevin McHale could also go small with Terrance Jones out with Trevor Ariza at the 4 and Brewer at the 3, which would making things interesting for Paul Millsap. (Millsap and Brewer are tied for the league-lead in steals at 54 total.)
Match-up to watch: DeMarre Carroll on James Harden for thirty-plus minutes tonight. Harden leads the league in total FGAs, 246, while making 88 percent of them. The Hawks can live with 10 free throws from Dwight Howard, shooting 49 percent from the charity stripe, but Carroll’s ability to keep Harden out of the lane will be critical in keeping the Hawks afloat. It could also go the other way with Harden getting Carroll into foul trouble early and often.
Stat to remember: The Rockets are 15-0 this season when they’ve scored at least 100 points.
What Bovada is saying: Bovada has the Hawks at plus-5, which is two points lower than what the Hawks were favored against in Cleveland just a few nights ago, and we know how that ended. Even without Teague, the Hawks cover again and win a closer game than Cleveland thanks to a much-improved Houston defense and their excessive ability to get to the foul line.
