Too Much Russ: Hawks Fall to Thunder 119-107

The Atlanta Hawks fought hard to the end versus the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night, finally succumbing to Russell Westbrook’s 100^th career triple-double as the home team fell by a final tally of 119 to 107.

Westbrook was typically unstoppable against Atlanta (even on the second night of a back-to-back), and a vintage Carmelo Anthony performance, which always seem to come at the expense of the Hawks, helped propel Oklahoma City to a road victory.

This was a well-played and entertaining tilt, however, and Atlanta even held a 12-point lead going into halftime. The home team was buoyed by strong bench play from some unlikely sources, and Atlanta only played three players with more than 1 year of NBA experience (Dennis Schröder, Dewayne Dedmon and Mike Muscala).

The Hawks played with energy and pizzazz in the first half, bolting out to a 38 to 23 scoring advantage in the 2^nd quarter, which was a major reason for their halftime lead.

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However, the team’s relative inexperience led to their downfall as a flurry of fouls was committed on the Thunder’s Patrick Patterson and Russell Westbrook – forcing foulouts by John Collins and Isaiah Taylor.

Both teams shot well overall, though the Thunder’s totals were lifted by an unconscious night from beyond the arc for Carmelo Anthony. Anthony struggled early, but he always seems to go into autopilot against Atlanta for some reason – delivering spectacular highlight treys with distinct regularity – and finished with 21 points on 7 of 15 shooting (6 of 11 from deep).

There isn’t much left to say about Westbrook, who obliterated the Hawks’ defensive efforts with his energy and offensive dynamism. Brodie finished with 32 points on 12 of 20 shooting with 12 rebounds and 12 assists.

Again, the Hawks played well here, and they even tied the game at 103 with 5:15 left after Taurean Prince hit a deep three. The Thunder came out of that timeout with a malicious glint in their eyes, as the away team jumped all over the inexperienced Hawks to the tune of a 16-4 advantage over the game’s final 5:15.

Despite that dispiriting close to the quarter, the Hawks had numerous individual contributions worthy of discussion, led by the one and only John Collins.