After a lengthy 5-game road trip to start the season, the Atlanta Hawks finally returned home, losing to the Denver Nuggets 105-100.
These Hawks know how to battle and that was the case for the full 48 – a game in which there were 14 ties, 21 lead changes, and the largest lead was a paltry 8 points by the Nuggets.
Generally, the Hawks played well, and after an unimpressive performance without Dennis Schröder (who returned from injury tonight to led the team in minutes and points) on Thursday night against the Bulls, the team bounced back with solid performances all around.
Related Story: Atlanta Hawks drop 4th straight game, fall to the Bulls 91-86
As is often the case, the bellwether for the Hawks offensive performance was 3-point shooting, and on this night, the Hawks were great on that front – going 14 of 33 from beyond the arc. The Hawks took 13 more attempts than the Nuggets and made 10 more than their opponent.
A stellar shooting performance from downtown is usually enough to push the Hawks to victory, but as is always the case, there are trade-offs. On this night, despite the Hawks lighting it up from downtown, the paint was wide open for the Nuggets and they capitalized on it to the tune of a 60 to 30 advantage.
In terms of individual performances, the aforementioned Schröder was a welcome sight at point guard, as his darting drives and under-control passes were severely missed in his two-game absence due to an ankle sprain.
Schröder finished with a team-high 32 minutes and 20 points to go along with 6 assists, 3 rebounds and a single steal, though it was of great importance – an opportunistic pickpocket of Will Barton, which led to an easy layup and cut the Nuggets’ lead to 3 (101-98) with 1:22 remaining.
Taurean Prince had a nice bounce-back game after an invisible performance against the Bulls, finishing with 19 points on 8 of 14 shooting (including a muscular 3 of 5 from downtown), 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Taurean was everywhere on the floor last night, and even though he missed a 3-pointer that would’ve cut the Nuggets’ lead to 2 in the 4th quarter, it was still a strong performance for the Prince That Was Promised.
Dewayne Dedmon also had a good night, leading the team in plus/minus with a +6 and tallying a double-double with 13 points and 10 assists.
Dedmon also had an early Hawks’ Dunk of the Year contender with a filthy throwdown on Malik Beasley off a pick-and-roll pass from Kent Bazemore in the 1st quarter.
Just nasty.
Marco Belinelli is still making it rain with his 3s, going 5 of 7 from beyond the arc for 15 points. His crafty, zippy passing is also a welcome addition on the offensive end, though he is still a sieve on defense.
John Collins only played 14 minutes in this one, going 2 for 11 from the field with 6 points, 8 rebounds (5 offensive) and 5 fouls. As a rookie, Collins will continue to improve, but nights like this are bound to happen. Learning the game takes time and part of the learning curve includes games such as this.
On the Nuggets side, 5 players scored 16 or more points – including former Hawk great Paul Millsap.
Millsap almost single-handedly closed the door on this game, scoring 7 of his 16 points in the final 3:23 of the game.
Millsap pulled from his usual bag of tricks (tricks which recent Hawks fans would’ve certainly recognized), with sneaky speed, stellar touch and underrated strength in order to bully and spin his way to the rim for easy looks.
One look Hawks fans won’t recognize is Millsap’s terrific new hairdo – maybe he paid a visit to Killer Mike’s new Phillips Arena-based SWAG Shop before the game…
Next: DeAndre’ Bembry out 4-6 weeks with fractured right wrist
The Hawks return to action against early MVP frontrunner Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks at 3:30 EST on Sunday.