Recapping and giving out player grades to the Atlanta Hawks for their performance against the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Atlanta Hawks faced off with the Memphis Grizzlies Monday night, in what ended up being a very ugly night of basketball. The Hawks lost
Memphis missed their first eleven shots, but the Hawks weren’t shooting the lights out either. Atlanta went up 7-0 before the Grizzlies found net.
The ugly play continued as the bench players trickled in, with both teams playing nowhere near their best ball. A 14-0 run by Memphis gave them a double-digit lead. The stretch saw the Hawks playing their worst in quite some time.
They had just four points when a Lloyd Pierce timeout stopped the clock with 6:20 to go in the second period. Atlanta started the game by making ten of their first forty shots. That’s not a typo.
They finally pulled it together to clean it up, turning a once 14-point deficit to a three-point one at the half. The 26 point second quarter — which would usually be a low mark at home for the Hawks — ended up being their best on the night.
Neither team came out of the break particularity sharp, and it looked like it was just going to be one of those nights when Memphis turned it around. Another double-digit run for the Grizzlies got their 14-point lead right back, extending it 16 this time.
The Grizz out-scored the Hawks 25-7 to kick off the third period, 32-19 in total.
Memphis pulled away in the fourth quarter in almost comical fashion, making seemingly every shot while the Hawks couldn’t buy a bucket. Memphis out-scored Atlanta 43-20 in the final period to achieve the 127-88 final score.
Atlanta’s 32.3 percent from the field is a new season-low.
The loss once again voids the Hawks’ hopes for a three-game win streak, moving to 0-4 on the season coming off of back-to-back wins. Atlanta moves to 19-44, while Memphis continues to hold onto the 8th seed out West.
Atlanta will have three days before their next game to figure out what exactly went wrong here. They play Washington on Friday.
Player Grades are next.