Atlanta Hawks drop heartbreaker to Pelicans 106-105

Though they led for much of this tight affair at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, the Atlanta Hawks dropped to 2-12 on the season after a crushing defeat at the hands of Boogie Cousins and the Pelicans.

The Hawks came out of the gate swinging in the first, outhustling the Pelicans to a 9-point advantage after one quarter and a 5-point advantage going into halftime.

But the home team did just enough, including career nights from E’Twaun Moore and Darius Miller, who scored 24 and 21 points, respectively, including the go-ahead triple from Miller with 35 seconds left.

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The Pels were also saved by some sketchy shot-clock chicanery from the referees (to not even look at the clock on the final play of a 1-point game seems like criminal negligence), as the Hawks had a chance to win the game with what should have been 1.5 seconds left, but the refs’ lack of awareness led to there only being .7 left on the clock – barely enough time to blink an eye, let alone win a basketball game.

The Hawks came out in the 1^st quarter with gusto, firing three-pointers from all over the court. The Hawks finished a blistering 17 of 36 from downtown – good for 47.2 percent. The Pels were much less focused on hoisting up shots but still managed 13 of 33 from downtown, good for 39.4 percent.

Headlining the Hawks’ individual performances was a sterling game from Kent Bazemore. Though he still shows shocking inconsistency on a possession-to-possession basis, Baze’s energy and drive propel the team to greater heights than they do when other players are on the court.

On this night, Baze led the Hawks with 22 points on 7 of 15 shooting, 7 assists and 3 steals, adding 4 rebounds for good measure. When Baze is on, he flies around the court with speed and precision – jumping passing lanes, pressuring ballhandlers and skying for tough rebounds. His effect on the game was apparent, as he finished with a net rating of +9.

Baze even served as the primary ballhandler for much of this game, as Dennis Schröder did not look sharp in his 32 minutes of play.

Though Dennis is known for his trademark speed, he was a bit of a ball-stopper on this night, as the wind seemed to seep out of the Hawks’ ball movement sails when he was handling the rock.

He was also extremely inefficient, finishing with 11 points on 5 of 18 shooting from the field, including 0 of 4 from three-point territory. Neither his signature straight-line drives were working (Anthony Davis was feasting on Schröder at the rim all night) nor were his jump shots – at one point in the 2^nd quarter, Dennis dribbled up the court and took a jump shot without passing the ball once three straight times.

Schröder looked equally rough on the defensive end, as Jrue Holiday was able to blow by him on almost every occasion and find the open man for easy shots.

With Schröder struggling, the backcourt tandem of Malcolm Delaney and Isaiah Taylor picked up the slack, as they both performed well – despite only scoring 3 points between them.

Malcolm Delaney continues to impress as a two guard; with active hands on defense (leading to 2 steals) and a knack to make the right pass on offense, Delaney finished with a game-high net rating of +10 in 20 minutes of play, even though he did not scratch from the field on only 3 shooting attempts.

The diminutive Isaiah Taylor also showed energy and panache on offense, as his speed and activity helped to push the pace and get the more ground-bound Pelicans off-balance. Taylor finished with 3 points and +8 net rating.

John Collins, who got beasted by Boogie and The Brow on numerous occasions, held his own on the offensive glass, as he was able to outmuscle the two big men a few times for 4 offensive boards. He still finished with a game-low -16 net rating, as his propensity to foul really hurt the Hawks on this night.

Still though, you can’t stay mad at him, as he knows how to finish a lob with style:

Dewayne Dedmon continued his strong play, despite only playing a minuscule 12 minutes due to foul trouble. Dedmon finished with 11 points on a perfect 5 of 5 shooting night, including nailing his only three-point attempt.

He even outmuscled and outhustled Boogie and Davis on a few plays, one of which led to a feisty dunk following an offensive rebound. If he hadn’t been in foul trouble, he might have served as a difference-maker late in this close game.

The story of the night, however, (other than poor refereeing) was Tyler Cavanaugh. The recent G-League call-up set the nets aflame on this night with a career-high 16 points on 6 of 7 shooting, including 4 of 4 from downtown.

Cavanaugh really provided a spark off the bench, and he even looked pretty good defensively on Cousins and Davis, showing that he definitely belongs in the NBA.

This was a heartbreaking loss for the Hawks, but they should take solace in the fact that they had this game under control on the road – it took some fluky outside shooting from Pelicans substitutes and some appalling refereeing to wrestle this game away from them.

Next: Atlanta Hawks lose thriller to Pistons 111-104

The Hawks will be back home on Wednesday night in Atlanta, looking to notch their first home win of the season against the Sacramento Kings at 7:30 p.m. EST.