Soaring Down South
Fansided

3 Takeaways: Atlanta Hawks lackluster performance in loss to Magic

By Michael Walton

ATLANTA, GA - FEBRUARY 10: Alex Len #25 of the Atlanta Hawks dunks against the Orlando Magic on February 10, 2019 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Scott Cunningham/NBAE via Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - FEBRUARY 10: Alex Len #25 of the Atlanta Hawks dunks against the Orlando Magic on February 10, 2019 at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Scott Cunningham/NBAE via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 4
Next
Atlanta Hawks
ATLANTA, GA – FEBRUARY 10: Aaron Gordon of the Orlando Magic (Photo by Jasear Thompson/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Sometimes, things just aren’t going your way…..

This may seem like an odd takeaway but it needed to be stated. The Atlanta Hawks, from the outside looking in, appear to have a very coachable group. The mixture of youngsters and veteran talent helps foster that kind of environment. And coming into the second leg of a back-to-back set, we expected to see the Hawks play disciplined enough basketball to give themselves a chance to win this game. On offense they had 11 turnovers, much lower than their season average of 18.4 turnovers per game, which is worst in the league.

So seeing as they protected the ball on offense and hit their 3-pointers (40.6% on 32 attempts from deep) on Sunday, it is tough to believe the final score wasn’t at least a little closer, with the Hawks losing by 16.

But that’ll happen when Orlando’s forwards are bombing from deep as they did in this matchup. Aaron Gordon and Jonathan Isaac combined to go 5/12, a scorching hot 41.6% from the 3-point line. Some of the attempts were straight-up heat checks from Isaac, and others were shots were they were wide-open with more time to gather themselves.

Either way, Gordon (career 31.6% 3PT shooter) and Isaac (career 29.5% from 3PT shooter) are not exactly the Splash Bros of Orlando, so you can bet that next time around: A) Pierce will have defenders pay more attention to Gordon and Isaac on the perimeter, and B) whether or not the Atlanta Hawks switch up their defense a bit next time, the young Magic duo is unlikely to shoot that well from 3-point range.

Home/Hawks News