Strong Second Half Helps Hawks Smash Jazz

After a tough home loss on Saturday, the Atlanta Hawks came out energized and invigorated on Monday, defeating the Utah Jazz by a final margin of 104-90.

The Hawks were buoyed by poor shooting from Utah all-around, as they only shot 4 of 15 from beyond the arc (26.7%) and were only 20 of 28 from the free throw line (71.4%).

Both teams started this game sluggishly, as the Hawks were seemingly still trying to shake off the stench from their terrible showing against the Bulls over the weekend. Atlanta finished the 1^st quarter with only 19 points.

The Jazz, not to be outdone, started the game 0 for 9 from the field, as the away team was searching for anything on the offensive end. Ricky Rubio, known more for his passing, was the main culprit – starting off 0 for 5 from the field and finishing with 2 points on 1 of 8 shooting with a -10 box plus/minus.

However, the Hawks started to turn the tide in the 3^rd quarter by ratcheting up the defensive intensity.

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Throughout the game, the team (and Kent Bazemore in particular) defended rookie of the year frontrunner Donovan Mitchell tremendously, not allowing the Louisville alum to use his slippery dribbling skills to get free for jumpers or mammoth dunks. Malcolm Delaney and Taurean Prince also did a serviceable job defending the explosively athletic Utah point guard.

Mitchell played quite poorly, and finished with a sky-high 6 turnovers to go along with 0 assists – not a good ratio for a starting point guard in the NBA.

That defensive effort coupled with some big buckets helped the Hawks balloon their lead to upwards of 20 points, keyed off by a massive 26 to 3 run extending between the 3^rd and 4^th quarters.

The second-half surge from the Hawks was spearheaded by Taurean Prince, who finally had a bounce-back game after 4 straight clunkers. The Prince That Was Promised finished with 17 points on 6 of 11 shooting in only 24 minutes – replete with 3 assists, 3 steals, 1 rebound and a +20 box plus/minus (the highest among the starters).

Taurean was doing it all on this night, which was nice to see after some poor performances in recent games. Prince guarded Mitchell one-on-one, providing some impressive ball pressure and not allowing Mitchell to get easy access to the basket; he jumped passing lanes for easy steals and layups; he found the open man on offense, and he left defenders in the dust with sick shoulder fakes – leading to open three-pointers like this:

Elsewhere among the starters, Kent Bazemore and Dennis Schröder had typical nights – Baze finished with 11 points on 4 of 9 shooting and a +13 BPM and Schröd had a game-high 20 points on 7 of 18 shooting. DS17’s role was minimized whenever Rudy Gobert was on the court for the Jazz, as his ludicrous 7-foot, 8-inch wingspan deterred Dennis from his usual straight-line drives to the hoop.

Malcolm Delaney had perhaps his best game of the season from a team perspective. Delaney was definitely in pass-first mode during this game, and he finished with 7 points, a season-high 8 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 rebound as well as a career-high +25 BPM. Everything Delaney touched turned to gold, including this stellar ¾-court dime to Marco Belinelli for a layup:

John Collins had a stupendous game, despite only playing 21 minutes and getting up 4 shot attempts. He made the most of those shot attempts by drilling a corner three and delivering a transcendent tomahawk dunk with vituperative vitriol:

John the Baptist lived up to his nickname on this night and thoroughly outplayed the much-hyped Donovan Mitchell – though it would be nice to see both of them in the dunk contest. JC finished with 8 points on 3 of 4 shooting with 7 rebounds (4 OREBS), 1 assist, 1 block and an ascendant +17 BPM.

Though Collins is the more consistent rookie, Tyler Dorsey has impressed in his limited minutes this season. He also delivered perhaps the highlight of the game as he exploded down the lane and took flight for a savage one-handed throwdown late in the 4^th quarter:

Dorsey finished with 5 points on 2 of 3 shooting with 2 rebounds. Despite his relatively small stature, Dorsey’s natural athleticism helps him compete for rebounds amongst larger players, and that immense one-handed hammer shows he can finish around the rim on offense in addition to his shooting prowess.

Next: 3 Realistic Trades the Atlanta Hawks Could Make

Atlanta plays the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday at Philips Arena with another 7:30 p.m. EST tip-off.