Rapid Reactions: Atlanta Hawks Beat Phoenix 123-110

Rapidly Reacting to the Atlanta Hawks’ 123-110 victory over the Suns.

The Atlanta Hawks looked to snap their 4 game losing skid Tuesday night, returning home to play the Phoenix Suns.

They didn’t look too determined to do that in the first couple of minutes, letting the Suns get out to a quick start, but were able to pretty quickly turn it around.

It ended up being one of the Hawks’ best quarters in a while, which is more indicative of their last two games rather than this one.

The 2nd quarter was about the same, with Atlanta holding a 3-6 point lead most of the period. It was the third quarter that made things interesting however.

The Hawks came out of the half looking real sharp, scoring the first seven points of the second half, growing their lead to 13 after this Collins three:

https://twitter.com/HawksOnFSSE/status/1217264249162141696

The Hawks lead then got up to 15 before the Suns (pretty quickly) chipped away at the lead, going on a 20-5 scoring run to take the lead before the 4th. Atlanta was able to recapture that with seconds left, limping into the final period with a 84-83 lead.

Trae Young transformed into Ice Trae in the fourth, looking unstoppable for a Suns team missing their starting point guard.

https://twitter.com/ATLHawks/status/1217276582273748992

Trae scored 21 of the team’s 39 points in the final period, elevating Atlanta to the 123-110 final.

Reactions

• Kevin Huerter played perhaps the best game of his career, scoring 23 points while making 4 of 5 from three. He nearly notched his first ever triple-double by putting up 15 rebounds and eight assists, both career-highs.
• Cam Reddish, De’Andre Bembry and Huerter were all tasked with covering Devin Booker throughout the game, with Bembry having the most success. He played 22 minutes off the bench. Booker still managed 39 points on 23 shots, but was ejected in the 4th quarter.
• Atlanta was going to need everyone to step up tonight, literally. With Alex Len joining fellow big men Bruno Fernando and Jabari Parker on the injury list, Damian Jones was the only true center on the roster, while John Collins started at the five. De’Andre Hunter moved up to the four spot, while Vince Carter and Cam Reddish played some minutes at the four as well. In the end, they were able to win the rebound battle, and Collins was able to match Deandre Ayton with 10 boards on the night. Jones played his most minutes since December 4th with 26, logging 11 points and six rebounds.
• It’s been a tale of two rookies of late – with neither Hunter and Reddish both starring on a singular night. This evening, it was Hunter who looked good, scoring 15.
• Trae’s plus/minus of +22 was the highest of his season, as was Huerter’s +21 and Cam Reddish’s 18.

The win moves Atlanta to 9-32 at the 41-game mark, a step back from their also bad 12-29 record a year ago.

They’ll look to get to double digits in wins for the first time this season after a nice 2-day break when they travel to San Antonio on Friday.