Hawks Outwork Pacers 107-102

After looking disheveled and uninterested for the first two games after the All-Star break, the Atlanta Hawks came out with gusto and energy against the Indiana Pacers and were able to notch their first win against that team by a final margin of 107-102.

The first half was competitive, and the Hawks only took a five-point advantage into the second half.

Atlanta was playing very well, but the Pacers were keeping pace (no pun intended) and finding ways to score despite some solid defense from the Hawks.

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The tables completely turned in the second half, as Atlanta began to pour it on as the Pacers seemed completely inept on both ends of the court. The Hawks bounded out to a 30-15 advantage, including a 12-0 spurt, from which the Pacers could never recover.

Though they did try. In a game the Hawks led by 23 at one point, the final margin of victory was only five for the home team, mostly due to some hot shooting from Victor Oladipo and Bojan Bogdanovic.

The Pacers flipped the script on Atlanta in the 4^th quarter, outscoring the Hawks by a mammoth 37-22 margin – but it just wasn’t enough. Despite Bojan Bogdanovic scoring 17 of his 22 points in the frame and Victor Oladipo affecting the game on both ends with 6 points and 2 steals in the 4^th, Indiana was never able to dig themselves out of the hole they dug themselves in the 3^rd.

This was a terrific and surprising team win for the Hawks in Atlanta, and the team employed a balanced attack along with some stellar defensive play to eke out this victory in the end.

Most notably on defense, the Hawks logged 11 blocks, which is the third-highest total this season for Atlanta, and the first time they’ve notched double digits in that stat in a winning effort.

The Hawks spread around those blocks too, as 7 of the 11 players who received minutes notched at least one block.

Individually, the Hawks were led by standout performances from a few players, but let’s start with the efforts of John Collins.

Starting at power forward for the fourth straight game, Collins seemed to be back to his old self after a few duds since returning from the All-Star break. Collins impacted the game with some robust rebounds, and he actually led the Hawks in scoring with 16 points on 7 of 9 shooting. He also added 7 rebounds (including 4 OREBs), 2 assists and 2 blocks in 26 minutes of play.

John the Baptist was on it on this night, and he was a +9 box plus/minus in his minutes, which was pretty representative of his solid effort on both ends. It was good to see John playing with the same energy and dash he showcased earlier in the season – hopefully a portent of future performances.

Dewayne Dedmon also had a huge game, and he affected the evening’s proceedings in numerous ways.

Dedmon finished with 15 points on a hyper-efficient 6 of 8 shooting (including 3 of 3 from deep) along with 9 rebounds, 4 blocks, 2 steals and 1 assist.

Dewayne was everywhere on defense, and he used his towering 7-foot frame and immense length to great effect on the way to forcing turnovers and turning away shots at the rim with regularity, including a hilarious sequence in which he slammed a Domantas Sabonis shot right back into his own face, which promptly ended up in Dedmon’s hands.

Taurean Prince had another strong game, though he cooled considerably in the second half after a torrid start to the game. Prince had scored 13 points through the first 15 minutes of this game, including 3 of 3 from downtown.

The Prince That Was Promised finished with 15 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and a +6 BPM. When Prince doesn’t fall in love with his outside shot, he can be an effective option at the three, as he is able to use his size and athleticism to make plays and get opportunistic buckets.

Elsewhere among the starters, Kent Bazemore had a quiet night with 6 points, 5 assists and 2 steals in 26 minutes, though his +9 BPM made it clear his playing time was not in vain.

Dennis Schröder had a great game, one of his best in recent memory, and it was because he affected the game in ways other than his scoring.

When Schröd puts his head down and focuses solely on getting to the rack, he is limiting himself in ways that are not beneficial to himself or his team. In this game, Schröd had his cake and ate it too.

Though he still managed to get up 13 field goals, he scored only 14 points on those. When he realized he did not have his shot in the first half (a half in which he went scoreless), he instead opted become a pest on defense – and did so with aplomb by tying his career high with 5 steals, often leading to fast breaks like this one:

Every player who saw action in this game for Atlanta played at least 11 minutes, including rookie Jaylen Morris in his NBA debut, who scored 2 points with 2 rebounds in 11 minutes.

Mike Muscala had 12 points, 8 rebounds and a team-high +10 BPM in 20 minutes of play, though he did go 0 of 5 from beyond the arc. Musky made up for it, however, with this sweet, fly-by putback dunk:

Isaiah Taylor continued a hot stretch, as he scored in double figures for the fourth straight game by logging 13 points in 15 minutes to go along with 2 assists, 1 rebound, 1 steal and 1 block.

This was a refreshing win for Atlanta, and on a night that the Suns also won, Atlanta didn’t lose any ground in the tanking race.

Next: Tank Watch 2018: The Race for the Top Pick

The Hawks return to action in a tough matchup against the Golden State Warriors on Friday for a 7:30 p.m. EST tipoff.