Game preview: Injury-thinned Hawks begin western swing at surging Jazz

102715 ATLANTA: -- A new Hawks logo is painted on the tunnel wall leading out to the court for the first regular season basketball game "home opener" on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, in Atlanta.  Curtis Compton / ccompton@ajc.com

Credit: ccompton@ajc.com

Credit: ccompton@ajc.com

102715 ATLANTA: -- A new Hawks logo is painted on the tunnel wall leading out to the court for the first regular season basketball game "home opener" on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2015, in Atlanta. Curtis Compton / ccompton@ajc.com

When/where: 9 p.m. today, Vivint Smart Home Arena

TV: Fox Sports Southeast

Stream: Fox Sports Go

Radio: 92.9 The Game

Injuries: Hawks—Kent Bazemore (knee), DeAndre' Bembry (abdominal), Antonius Cleveland (ankle), John Collins (ankle), Malcolm Delaney (ankle) and Jaylen Morris (ankle) are out.

Jazz—Derrick Favors (knee), Raul Neto (wrist), Thabo Sefolosha (knee) and Tony Bradley (concussion) are out.

What to watch for: The Hawks (20-50) begin their five-game trip west without rookie John Collins. He will miss this game and likely Thursday's game at the Kings because of the injury he suffered at Milwaukee on Saturday.

That leaves coach Mike Budenholzer with yet another lineup decision to make because of injury. Mike Muscala is the most likely candidate to replace Collins in the starting frontcourt with Tyler Cavanaugh and Miles Plumlee as the other options.

Hawks wing Taurean Prince has been an offensive tear since Kent Bazemore went down with a season-ending injury in a game against the Bulls. Prince scored a career-high 38 points in that game (a number he matched on Saturday against the Bucks) and over his last four has averaged 30.8 points with 50 percent shooting (41 of 82) including 20 of 46 on 3-pointers.

The Jazz (40-30) have been surging over the past two months but that's only good enough to keep pace in the tight West playoff race. Utah has won nine straight games and is 21-2 since losing to the Hawks at Philips Arena on Jan. 22.