Friday night the Atlanta Hawks suffered a 114-96 loss to the Boston Celtics. The Atlanta Hawks are currently on a ten game losing streak after Friday’s loss.
Atlanta fell to 3-16 on the season after losing to the Celtics Friday night. Clearly, this season is a rebuild for the Atlanta Hawks who have been struggling as of late. Despite an 18-point loss, the Hawks are still on their way to a possible lottery draft pick (Zion Williamson cough cough).
After losing their tenth straight game, first-year head coach Lloyd Pierce may want to experiment with the starting lineup. Over the last few games, Jeremy Lin has stepped up, causing people to question whether or not Linsanity is making a return.
Even though the Atlanta Hawks lost tonight, there are still a few positive takeaways from the game.
The Return of Linsanity
Over the last five games, Lin has started to show flashes of his Charlotte Hornets and maybe even New York Knicks form. Lin finished Friday night’s game with a double-double recording 19 points 10 assists and 5 rebounds.
However, one thing to remember is that the franchise is in the second year of rebuilding. The fact that Linsanity’s play is starting to improve is a good thing for the team. Over the course of the last five games, he has scored 84 points.
During Friday’s game, Trae Young played relatively poorly and finished the game with 5 points, 2 assists and 1 block. This year’s Hawks team has struggled to remain in games when their star rookie struggles to generate a rhythm.
As of now, it is unclear if the Atlanta Hawks plan to trade Lin before the deadline. Needless to say, the organization needs to hold on to him in the case that Young continues to struggle. Another possibility is that Pierce could decide to move Young to the bench for a few games (which probably won’t happen).
Lin is currently averaging 11 points, 2.8 assists and 1.9 rebounds per game. In order for the Hawks to pull together some wins, they need their starting and backup guard to play at a high level.
Turnover Issues Continue
As the season continues, one major issue that is continuing to hurt the Atlanta Hawks is their turnovers. At the conclusion of tonight’s game, the Hawks turned the ball over 20 times.
In today’s league, it is hard to win games when you are turning the ball over — especially against the Celtics who are heavy favorites to win the East (despite their early record).
The Celtics are currently 25th in scoring in the league. If Atlanta wants to turn their losses into wins they need to start taking care of the ball. At the moment, Young is averaging 3.8 turnovers per game, which is sixth-highest in the league among all point guards.
Young’s turnovers are problematic for the team considering the fact that the best aspect of his game of late is his passing. To no one’s surprise, he has struggled to shoot consistently from the field.
Obviously, the Oklahoma product is not the only player on the team committing turnovers. But he does hold onto the ball more than the rest of the team. He is currently averaging a 26.9 usage rating percentage. As the future of this team, it is important that he takes care of the ball.
Currently, the team averages 18.1 turnovers per game, which places them last in the NBA. However, the team follows their leader in Young.
DeAndre’ Bembry Continues to Improve
In the midst of a bounce-back campaign this season, DeAndre’ Bembry continues to improve each game. Bembry finished tonight’s game against the Celtics with 14 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks and 4 assists. For some, the scoring numbers may not come off as impressive, but the overall impact of his stats is fairly striking.
Nonetheless, the Atlanta Hawks have been watching their forward grow up right before their eyes this season. Of course, he still has plenty of ways to go but he is using this season to prove that he is worthy of his roster spot.
Bembry is a jack of all trades and is able to contribute in multiple ways. He has the ability to play on both sides of the ball. Clearly, he needs some work on the offensive side, but he is providing effort every night on the court.
DeAn{tray} pic.twitter.com/fRjR25CeDm
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) November 24, 2018
The fact that the Bembry is able to impact the game in multiple areas shows how much he has been working on his game. Currently, the 2-year veteran is averaging 7.7 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game.
Last season, he played 26 games with the Hawks. However, with the way the current season is going, he will play more than 26 games. No matter how bad Atlanta is losing he continues to play like tomorrow is his last game.
Final Game Takeaways
Although the Atlanta Hawks lost 114-96 tonight at the hands of the Boston Celtics, there are still some positive takeaways. The Hawks are still on their way to a possible lottery pick. Not to mention, John Collins has played four games this season.
It’s important to remember that the Hawks are still rebuilding and figuring each other out. Even though the team lost, tonight they still have the ability to compete with any team when they take care of the basketball.
Boston may have won tonight but it was mostly because of the Hawks’ lack of ability to take care of the ball and their lack of offense. No disrespect but when Lin and Alex Len lead the team in scoring it’s hard to beat any team.
In addition to bench players leading the team in scoring the Hawks cannot win when Taurean Prince only scores two points.
The Atlanta Hawks need to have a short-term memory and forget about tonight’s game as they take on the Hornets Sunday night at 6 p.m. EST.
What do you think the Atlanta Hawks need to do?
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All stats for this article are from stats.nba.com.