Some surprising players show fight for the Atlanta Hawks: 3 takeaways
The Hawks can still compete without Young dominating
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The third quarter comeback by the Atlanta Hawks was attempted without Young getting huge numbers. In fact, he was really the link man in passes around the perimeter to get other players open. He had a number of hockey assists but those do not get counted on the box score.
What the Hawks did was get back to the fundamentals of basketball. Solomon Hill slowed Hayward down, Huerter took good shots making sure that the zone defense was not as impenetrable. Goodwin then took advantage of that.
However, where the Hawks started their comeback was on the defensive end. They were able to get stops where those same shots were falling in the first half. Clint Capela swallowed up 19 rebounds, keeping the Hornets to just eight offensive rebounds for the game. This is down from their average of 11 per game.
This team deferred to each other and worked for each other and that included Young. He did not force any shots, nor did he make any bad passes. He simply settled into a team role and let those who weren’t struggling take over.
Next. Atlanta Hawks notes for the week. dark
While the Hawks did not come away with the win, it was good to see everyone work together to come back. This was a definite maturing experience for Young and the team will be better for it next game. Fortunately, this is against the Hornets, where the Hawks will be looking for revenge.