Soaring Down South
Fansided

Hawks Upset Spurs 102-99

By Chris Guest

ATLANTA, GA - JANUARY 15: the Atlanta Hawks stand for the national anthem prior to the game against the San Antonio Spurs on January 15, 2018 at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Scott Cunningham/NBAE via Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - JANUARY 15: the Atlanta Hawks stand for the national anthem prior to the game against the San Antonio Spurs on January 15, 2018 at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Scott Cunningham/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The Kawhi Leonard-less Spurs put up a valiant effort on the road, but the Atlanta Hawks, led by Dennis Schröder, were too much for San Antonio to handle down the stretch.

Though the Spurs were without two of their best players, Kawhi Leonard and Manu Ganobli (who suffered a thigh contusion in the 1st quarter and did not return), the Hawks still played quite well and out-executed the Spurs down the stretch – something that’s nearly impossible to do.

The Hawks were able to nail four straight clutch free throws as both Dewayne Dedmon and Dennis Schröder were able to step up to line and calmly give the Hawks a three-point lead (on two occasions) after the Spurs had cut the Hawks’ lead to one.

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Overall, the Hawks only missed one free throw for the entire game – going 13 of 14 from the charity stripe for a 92.9% clip. This is an encouraging sign for a team that had struggled in recent games with inconsistent free throw shooting.

Another area of dominance for Atlanta in this game was its rebounding, as the Hawks outrebounded the Spurs 50 to 37. Every Hawks player that played more than 10 minutes recorded at least 2 rebounds, and even Miles Plumlee – who did not score in this game – had 6 rebounds (3 offensive, 3 defensive) in only 16 minutes of action.

When the Hawks are able to spread the wealth around in terms of scoring by applying the methods of Bud-Ball to the offense, good things usually happen. On this night, 6 Hawks scored in double figures – led by the herculean efforts of Dennis Schröder.

This could be a winning blueprint for the Hawks going forward, as they clamped down with their perimeter defense, employed terrific ball movement to find the open man on offense, and let Schröder take the reins late with some clutch isolation buckets. None were more clutch than this extremely difficult layup that went high off the glass:

Schröder, who is having a career year despite the Hawks’ lackluster record, had a terrific game overall and finished with 26 points on 10 of 20 shooting, with 12 of those 26 points coming in the final 6:17 of this game.

DS17 was also looking to distribute the ball as well, and he finished with 7 assists, including this sweet bounce pass to Ersan Ilyasova for a wide-open layup:

Speaking of Ilyasova, he had another strong game as the Hawks’ starting power forward and finished with 20 points on 9 of 15 shooting (2 of 4 from downtown) with 5 rebounds and a game-high +8 box plus/minus.

Elsewhere in the starting lineup, Kent Bazemore had an off shooting night, but he made up for that with stellar effort on the defensive end and an extremely beefy statline: 10 points, 4 assists, 4 steals, 3 rebounds and 2 blocks (which should’ve been 3 blocks due to a putrescent goaltending call).

Off the bench Marco Belinelli had a rather quiet game, though he did put in 10 points on 4 of 6 shooting with 2 rebounds, 1 steal and a +6 BPM in only 21 minutes.

The headliners for Atlanta off the bench were John Collins and Dewayne Dedmon. Dedmon looked to be fully healthy in this game by playing 25 minutes, and he seemed fully amped to play against his former teammates (from last season) on San Antonio.

Dedmon finished with a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds provided some forceful rebounding inside, and as the largest player on the Hawks’ entire roster, he was the last line of defense against the Spurs’ Lamarcus Aldridge (who had 25 points and 11 rebounds).

Collins, on the other hand, flashed his trademark athleticism by skying for rebounds and getting up for a near-halfcourt alley-oop lob from Dennis Schröder:

JC finished with 12 points on 5 of 8 shooting with 8 rebounds (including 2 OREBS) and a +1 BPM.

Tyler Dorsey, who continues to get much more playing time than he was receiving earlier in the year, played 13 minutes in this game including a lot of minutes in the crucial 4th quarter.

Dorsey finished with 5 points on 2 of 4 shooting, and the threat of his three-point shooting proved to be important whenever he was one the floor. Dorsey also provided value with 3 assists, 3 rebounds and a +3 BPM – in a game the Hawks won by only 3. Coincidence? I think not.

The Hawks return to action on Tuesday night at Philips Arena against the New Orleans Pelicans. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m. EST.

Next: Dennis Schröder is Having a Career Year

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