Takeaways from an Atlanta Hawks 129-120 defeat at the hands of the Charlotte Hornets.
In a wild game, the Atlanta Hawks were defeated handily by the Charlotte Hornets – who were led, as usual, by their All-Star point guard Kemba Walker.
Kemba, who tends to love destroying the Hawks, drilled 9 three-pointers on the way to 37 points and was truly unstoppable in the final game against these two teams this season. Beyond that, Jeremy Lamb and former Hawks legend Marvin Williams combined for 51 points on 20 of 30 shooting.
The Hawks played surprisingly well but ran out of gas in the second half when Kemba really upped his game. Let’s take a look at a few takeaways from the tilt.
1st Quarter Destruction
The Atlanta Hawks were sorely outplayed to start the game with the Hornets pouring on a season-high 46 points in the first quarter. Charlotte loped off to a 23-13 start to the game and didn’t mess their first shot as a team until the 7:10 mark of the 1st quarter. By that time, Kemba had already notched 10 points by himself. Despite getting clobbered, the Hawks were only down by 15 when the quarter ended.
2nd Quarter Comeback
After that, the Atlanta Hawks flipped the script in the second quarter and miraculously dropped 37 points versus 27 for the Hornets, meaning the Hawks were only down 5 heading into the second half (73 to 68). John Collins, Kevin Huerter and Trae Young had already combined for 45 points by the time the second half was over.
Young Big 3 Plays Well
While the trio would only add 13 more points combined for the rest of the game, a combined 58 points is quite strong for a triumvirate of players that are all around 20 years old – and clearly the best players on their team as of now – especially with Kent Bazemore coming back a bit rusty from injury. Collins finished with 21 points on 8 of 12 shooting, Huerter logged 17 points on 7 of 9 shooting and Ice Trae put up 20 points on 8 of 15 shooting with 11 assists.
The Hawks play again tonight on a home back-to-back against the Orlando Magic. Tip-off is 7:30 p.m. EST.