Hawks Stung by Hornets on Kemba’s Career Night

The Atlanta Hawks played well but were unable to overcome Kemba Walker’s magnificent performance for the Charlotte Hornets as Atlanta fell by a final score of 123-110.

The Hornets, as a team, played extremely well on offense – shooting 51.1 percent from the field. To their credit, however, the Hawks matched them step-for-step by shooting 50.6 percent from the field.

The difference-maker in this game was the three-point shooting; both teams hoisted 32 attempts from deep, and the Hawks only managed to hit 12 of them for a 37.5 percent clip. Charlotte, on the other hand, nailed a season-high 17 threes for a blistering 53.1 percent from downtown. They were led in this category by their soulful leader Kemba Walker.

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Walker put in an epic performance at Philips Arena. Showcasing his skills as the best possible All-Star replacement for the injured Kevin Love, Walker absolutely obliterated Atlanta from the three-point line.

He poured in a career-high 9 three-pointers on 13 attempts and finished with 38 points, 6 assists and a game-high +24 box plus/minus.

It was not all gloom and doom for the Hawks, though. This was a well-played and winnable game for the home team and though their defense was not as crisp as it could’ve been, very few of the threes the Hornets hit were wide-open and most of them were closely contested. Keep your head up, Hawks, sometimes it’s just not your night.

As is almost perpetually true, the Hawks’ starters were outplayed by their counterparts on this night. Notably, Miles Plumlee did not start the second half for Coach Bud’s team, who instead opted for Mike Muscala at the five.

Among the starters, Kent Bazemore had another terrific game, popping for 25 points (including 13 in the 3^rd quarters) on a hyper-efficient 8 of 11 shooting. Baze also dished out 5 assists, nabbed 2 boards and had 1 steal in 27 minutes of action.

Dennis Schröder had a poor night scoring the ball (13 points on 6 of 14 shooting), but he did send out 9 assists. More troubling for the Hawks was an apparent right shoulder injury that Schröder suffered and received treatment for on the sideline. Stay tuned as more news on this worrisome subject becomes available.

Off the bench was where the more interesting contributions came from, led by veteran sharpshooter Marco Belinelli.

Belinelli had been quiet in recent weeks, as his steady outside shot had seemingly disappeared from his arsenal. That was not the case on this night, however, since Belinelli was on it from deep – drilling 4 of 7 shots from downtown (6 of 12 overall) for 22 points in 24 minutes.

However, as good as Belinelli was, there was only one rim-rattling highlight play from the Hawks that sent the internet aquiver. It was this from John Collins:

That’s right, John the Baptist returned to his high-flying form and delivered perhaps the dunk of the season for the Hawks on an alley-oop from his fellow big man Dewayne Dedmon. The grace and elegance with which Collins levitates through the air is downright poetic. Let’s get this man in the dunk contest, please!

Overall, Collins finished with an almost automatic 5 of 6 from the field for 12 points, though he only had 3 rebounds in 21 minutes of play. When JC is forced to defend and rebound opposite large bodies like Dwight Howard, he has a hard time – something to keep in mind going forward.

Still though, JC did have this nasty block on Frank Kaminsky, something that will seemingly always be in his repertoire going forward:

In a semi-starting role, Mike Muscala had another strong game for Atlanta – notching 6 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 block in only 18 minutes of action. He was also the only non-garbage time player who contributed a positive box plus/minus score: Musky was a +10 in those limited minutes.

Hopefully either Muscala or Dewayne Dedmon (9 points, 5 rebounds in 22 minutes) will start at center going forward and edge out Plumlee in the rotation.

Rookie Tyler Dorsey continues to play well as a bench sharpshooter, and he was actually given the reins of the offense in garbage time as the primary ballhandler. Dorsey only finished with 7 points and 2 assists in 16 minutes, but his confident stroke and driving ability make him an important piece for Atlanta going forward.

Speaking of important pieces for the Hawks, let’s take another look at that astonishing John Collins dunk, shall we?

The Hawks return to action Friday night at 7:30 p.m. EST in Boston against former Hawk Al Horford and the Celtics.

Next: The Hawks Should Trade Dennis Schröder to the Knicks