Atlanta Hawks: 5 Takeaways from Overtime Win vs. Timberwolves

5 Takeaways from a thrilling Atlanta Hawks victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Atlanta Hawks defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves on the road in overtime on the back of some woeful free throw shooting by Andrew Wiggins, as well as some clutch buckets and important defense from the Hawks.

This game was filled to the brim with in-game storylines, as the Wolves battled back from a putrid start to the game in which the Hawks hung 42 points on the Wolves in the 1st quarter, but the Wolves battled back and blasted the Hawks in 3rd quarter by a 30 to 18 margin.

The Wolves led by as many as 9 in the 4th quarter, but the Hawks whittled the lead down to a few after a nice little spurt. Of course, the Hawks had led by as many as 22 in the first half, but the Wolves came out of halftime and upped their defensive intensity and hit a few triples than were going down to start the game.

The Atlanta Hawks got terrific performances out of a multitude of players, but let’s start our first takeaway with some notable numbers on Minnesota’s side.

Putrid Free Throw Shooting

Perhaps the most notable number from the Timberwolves was how poorly they shot from the free throw line.

Usually, when a team gets to the line for 38 attempts, there’s a good chance that team is going to win. The Atlanta Hawks could not help themselves from fouling the Wolves’ players – as Karl-Anthony Towns was almost impossible to handle in the paint, piling up 15 free throw attempts on the game.

However, he only made 10 of them, which is good for 66.7 percent. Beyond that, the team only shot a hideously low 55.3 percent on their attempts from the charity stripe, with the main culprit being Andrew Wiggins – who went 5 of 12 from the line and seemed totally checked out for much of crunch time in this game.

Towns and Wiggins: Max Players

Wiggins had a terrible game all-around, as he scored 16 points on an inefficient 5 of 14 shooting. When combined with that 5 of 12 free throw shooting and a -7 on/off rating, you get the portrait of a terrible game for Minnesota’s max contract wing.

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Their other max contract slot is filled by Karl-Anthony Towns, who had a stupendous game in which he tallied 31 points (10 of 17 shooting) 19 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocks and 1 steal in a whopping 42 minutes of action.

He also forced almost every big man the Atlanta Hawks had available into foul trouble and only committed 3 fouls himself (home whistle, perhaps?).

Collins with Another Double-Double

John Collins tallied yet another double-double in this victory, and his finishing around the basket is becoming hard for opposing teams to deny. Collins had 21 points on 9 of 15 shooting with 10 rebounds (5 of which were offensive) and 4 assists in a new career-high of 39 minutes played. It was good to see John Collins helping to lead the team as the game wore on in overtime, and he still seemed to have plenty left in the tank in overtime.

Ice Trae Efficient and Effective

Speaking of plenty left in the tank, Trae Young had another spectacularly efficient night, and he even drilled an extremely long-distance triple in the overtime period to give the Atlanta Hawks a 118-117 lead over the Wolves:

Ice Trae was slicing up the Wolves in the first half, as he tallied 8 of his 11 assists on the evening in the first. He finished the game with 16 points on 7 of 11 shooting with those 11 assists, 4 rebounds and 1 steal.

Young has seemingly been in complete command of his game over the course of the past few contests, so we will have to see if this trend continues as the season goes on.

Baze Does It All

Kent Bazemore had one of the biggest plays of the night, as he stole an inbounds pass from Dario Saric to Towns and took it all the way for a forceful slam, which tied the game at 112.

The Wolves got one more chance to win it, but Derrick Rose’s shot at the buzzer was blocked by Justin Anderson.

Without the efforts of Bazemore helped stave off the furious comeback that the Wolves put forth in the second half of this game, and Bazemore’s final stat line displayed his all-around effectiveness (something that many contending teams might be willing to trade for).

Bazemore finished the night with 23 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and a +6 on/off rating. He did play 33 minutes before fouling out, when he was replaced by Kevin Huerter, who hit a dagger three with 43.9 seconds to go in the game.

This was a generally great team win for the Atlanta Hawks, and even though the team might be playing more for draft positioning, it was clear that the team’s young guns and grizzled veterans alike wanted to take this victory on the road over a fairly sturdy Western Conference opponent.

Mission accomplished. The Hawks play tomorrow in a back-to-back against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Tip-off is 7:30 p.m. EST.