Atlanta Hawks: Rapid Reaction to Blowout Road Loss to Kings

Rapid reactions to the Atlanta Hawks 22-point blowout loss to the Sacramento Kings at Golden 1 Center on Wednesday night.

Coming into tonight’s Hawks-Kings game, it was right to expect exciting action with the No. 1 team in pace taking on the No. 2 ranked team in terms of pace.

The game started off with a nice pace, with both teams putting 30+ first quarter points. In that first quarter both teams combined to shot 5/19 from 3-point range. The Hawks scored 16 points in the paint but gave up 18 Sacramento paint points. That was the last time the Atlanta Hawks would be close in points in the paint, and Harry Giles (and the rest of the Kings bench) had a lot to do with it.

Giles had a huge game against the Hawks and specifically had a big impact on the defensive end of the floor, where he was a lot more aggressive guarding screens. Giles’ energy on both sides of the ball was a big reason for John Collins going 0/5 from the field in the second quarter, which is exactly when the Kings pulled away, outscoring the Atlanta Hawks by 13 in that period.Atlanta’s defense was bad all night, allowing 30 or more points by the Kings in each quarter.

The springiness and athleticism of the Kings’ bigs–specifically Giles and Bagley–provided trouble for the Hawks all night. While the Hawks bigs were trying to corral the Kings’ speedy guards, Giles and Bagley racked up a combined 7 offensive rebounds, using their second jump ability to get to loose balls.

Collins’ 5/15 shooting from the field was a direct result of being bothered by Giles’ length and physicality, though credit goes to Collins for at least getting up 4 attempts from 3-point range (though he missed all four).

Despite all the negatives, Trae Young was a bright spot, scoring 23 points to go along with his 8 assists. His high turnover ways came back as he had 5 on the night, but more important is the fact that his 3-point shot was falling.

Young went 4/9 from the 3-point line, which is huge since the idea of 3-point volume + accuracy is what made him such an appealing franchise PG in the first place.

The big picture thing that happened in this game for the Hawks was the return of Kent Bazemore, in his first game action since December 29.

Baze had 9 points, an assist and a steal, including 2/4 from the 3-point line in just under 20 minutes of action.

Though the Hawks suffered a blowout loss to the Kings on Wednesday, they started off strong and received another great performance from Young, his third 20+ point game. The Atlanta Hawks continue this tough road trip when they take on the Jazz in Utah on Friday.