Hawks’ Strong Team Effort Defeats Blazers

On the second half of a back-to-back, the Atlanta Hawks put in a valiant effort at Philips Arena and defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 104-98 for their 10^th win overall and their 3^rd straight win at home. The Hawks fought hard throughout and flipped the script in the second half after the Blazers went into halftime with a 6-point advantage.

This was an excellent showing from the Hawks after they were thoroughly outplayed in Toronto the previous night. Though they were turned away by the gargantuan interior presence of Portland’s Jusuf Nurkic (getting outscored 48-28 in the painted area), the Hawks were drilling the three ball at an impressive clip – finishing an immense 14 of 30 from downtown, good for 46.7 percent.

The Blazers on the other hand, could only manage 7 of 25 from deep (28 %) including poor showings from C.J. McCollum (1 of 4), Pat Connaughton (1 of 4) and a hideous 1 of 6 from Al-Farouq Aminu.

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The away team were without their best player in Damian Lillard, and without his knockdown shooting and general ballhandling wizardry, the Blazers were left with a rather toothless attack that the Hawks thoroughly sussed out with a great defensive effort on Lillard’s backcourt mate C.J. McCollum.

McCollum had a rough game, going of 8 of 21 (38%) from the field for 18 points, and he was a game-worst -25 in box plus/minus in his 35 minutes of action.

After being down by 11 in the 3^rd quarter, the Hawks ratcheted up the defense and completely shut down the Blazers’ limited offensive players. The Hawks were really using their quick hands and ended up forcing a massive 20 turnovers, including a combined 12 in the starting lineup for Portland.

Another major area in which the Hawks beasted the Blazers was passing the ball. Coach Bud’s system is based on ball movement, and the Hawks moved the rock to all the right places on this night on the way to out-assisting the Blazers 29-19, led by Dennis Schröder’s game-high 8.

Schröder had an all-around strong night, as he closed the book on this game late with some timely, forceful drives to the basket, including this sneaky yo-yo dribble that caught Nurkic completely unawares:

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Schröder finished with 22 points on 9 of 17 shooting in a team-high 33 minutes and was +13 in BPM. It should be noted that every Hawks player that logged significant minutes had a positive rating in box plus/minus (rookie Tyler Dorsey only played the final 1½ minutes of garbage time).

The Hawks starters thoroughly outplayed their Blazer brethren, as only Miles Plumlee did not finish with double figures in his 19 minutes of action, though he did clobber the rim with a monster dunk as he rumbled down the lane at the start of the 3^rd quarter:

Kent Bazemore had possibly the biggest play of the game as the Hawks were slowly coming back at the start of the 3^rd quarter: Baze grabbed a rebound, galloped off in transition and smashed a huge dunk after Eurostepping past Shabazz Napier at full speed – this cut the lead to one point, and really got the crowd (and the bench) energized:

Baze finished with 12 points on 4 of 10 shooting in 25 minutes and was +3 in BPM. He added 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks for an all-around solid game.

Taurean Prince had less of a star-making performance than his career night against the Raptors, but he was supremely efficient and finished with 12 points on 4 of 8 shooting (4 of 7 from downtown) with 10 rebounds, 5 assists and a +12 BPM. That’s two straight double-doubles for the second-year player, and the Prince that was Promised continues to hone his craft on a nightly basis.

Off the bench, Marco Belinelli had a typically impressive stat line: 21 minutes, 14 points (5 of 10 overall, 2 of 4 from three) 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 rebounds and a sky-high +14 BPM.

Rookie John Collins was having trouble with his finishing at the rim in this game, only going 2 of 8 from the field for 5 points. Though his stellar field goal percentage took a hit, his overall game was excellent and he had a mammoth night on the offensive glass with 6 offensive boards and 9 total rebounds.

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JC played 25 minutes and also notched 2 steals, a +6 BPM and a career-high tying 4 assists; he was making the right passes all over the court by finding open wing shooters, players cutting to the rim and using nonstop dribble hand-offs to free himself for open rolls to the hole.

Though other players had stable performances off the bench (Malcolm Delaney and Isaiah Taylor combined for 9 points and a +5 BPM), the story of this night for the Hawks was the outstanding play of undrafted rookie Tyler Cavanaugh.

Tyler is undersized for a big man to be sure, but when he is able to use his intensity and grittiness to outwork players, he is at his best – and that was definitely the case on this night. Of course, a strong shooting stroke from three-point range doesn’t hurt his cause, and Cavanaugh was feeling it from distance, going 3 of 4 from beyond the arc and 5 of 7 overall from the field for 13 points.

Cavanaugh was mixing it up on the offensive glass as well, nabbing 3 offensive board (5 total) and pairing with John Collins to create a formidable frontcourt duo that was thriving on its offensive glasswork.

Overall, Cavanaugh played wonderfully and was rewarded with a game-high +16 BPM, as his laudable effort was contagious for the whole team, who ratcheted up their effort on both ends after Cavanaugh’s fiery play inspired them.

The Hawks have a few days off then return for a lengthy West Coast road trip starting on January 2^nd against the Phoenix Suns. Tip-off is slated for 9:00 p.m. EST.