Atlanta Hawks: Takeaways from Friday’s Exciting Win in Philadelphia
Building Bench Depth
As the 2018-19 season continues to move on Pierce has continued to experiment with different lineups and players on the bench. Tonight Justin Anderson and Omari Spellman saw some action tonight even though they did not contribute on the offensive side.
Pierce is doing a solid job of mixing up the lineups as the season goes on. The fact that the Atlanta Hawks are in the second year of rebuilding and Pierce has already played just about his whole roster speaks volumes.
Of course, everyone will not play once this team starts to compete in the playoffs years down the road. However, the first year head coach is truly gathering an idea of what his player’s skills sets are and what they can do in certain situations.
One example would be inserting Anderson into the lineup to defend Jimmy Buckets, who tends to use his muscle to get to the rim. Anderson is a solid defender and doesn’t back down from anyone.
Although, Anderson did not score he still provided solid energy, effort and defense off the bench. Another player that helped give this Hawks team a spark was Alex Len. Len does an excellent job of clogging the paint on defense and he helps provide Atlanta with second-chance point opportunities.
Tonight, Len finished with 9 points and 6 rebounds. Not to mention he did an excellent job of protecting the paint from Ben Simmons and Butler in certain instances during the game. Outside of Len and Anderson, Pierce normally plays a nine-man rotation.
Yes, the Atlanta Hawks are still rebuilding but tonight’s win was a step in the right direction. Philadelphia is a favorite to make it to the Eastern Conference finals and the Hawks beat them on their home floor in dramatic fashion.
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Atlanta rebounded from Wednesday’s loss against the Brooklyn Nets after a night off. The Hawks will play their next game at home against the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. EST.