After going down by as much as 24 points against the Charlotte Hornets, the Atlanta Hawks showed some fight before losing the game – three takeaways.
In a game where the Atlanta Hawks were jumped early by the Charlotte Hornets, they did not give in. The Hawks showed plenty of fight after going down by as many as 24 points. They took the lead with five minutes remaining before losing the game by eight points.
Gordon Hayward was unstoppable in the first half. He scored 25 points before the main break on his way to a career-high 44 points. He was slowed during the third period by veteran Solomon Hill during the Hawks’ comeback. However, he was still able to score 14 in the final period to ice the game.
Trae Young had a shocking game with his first-half numbers consisting of two points, three rebounds, two assists, and seven turnovers. He would perform slightly better in the second half, ending up with seven points, five rebounds, three assists, a steal, and still seven turnovers. He only took nine shots for the game.
This Atlanta Hawks team needs the veterans they signed during the offseason.
Coach Lloyd Pierce would have loved nothing more than to be able to throw Rajon Rondo onto the floor to calm things down. He would have also loved Kris Dunn to try and curtail Hayward or Danilo Gallinari to add quality shooting to the mix.
Unfortunately for the Hawks Rondo is out for the next few games and neither Dunn nor Gallinari have recovered from their injuries. Nevertheless, the undermanned Hawks put up a really good fight, particularly when they were down by so many. Let’s get on to the three takeaways.
You don’t need to start to make an impact.
Apart from John Collins, it was mainly the bench that bought the Hawks back into this one. As mentioned on the previous slide, Solomon Hill came on and held Hayward to just five points for the period.
However, Brandon Goodwin was incredible, using his pace to break down the zone defense which enabled the offense to get started which had spluttered for the first half. He was able to get out into transition and score. He did have a scary moment when he turned his ankle on one such play but was able to continue on.
However, the best performer of the night off the bench was Kevin Huerter. He was the only Hawks player in the first half who was able to consistently hit from behind the 3-point line. He was able to hit three of the Hawks four 3-balls in the first half.
Huerter would play the third-highest playing time on the night for the Hawks. He ended up with 19 points, five rebounds, and six assists for the game. He went 7-of-15 from the floor and 5-of-12 from deep. He was the main reason the Hawks were not further down at the half and could still get back into it.
John Collins can put this team on his back.
In the second period, there were only two Hawks who were doing anything useful for the team. One was Huerter as explained above, the other was Collins. The fourth-year man showed his value to the franchise by putting his head down and getting to work.
He was the high scorer at the half with 14 points to go along with the nine rebounds he collected. He was competing inside, finishing through contact and generally doing the dirty work which is required to come back from a 27-11 deficit at the first break.
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By the end of the game Collins had a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds, four of those rebounds were on the offensive end. He also collected one assist and one steal. Collins shot the ball at 56.3 percent from the floor going 9-of-16 and got to the charity stripe seven times, making five of them.
However, it was not just the numbers that made Collins’ effort special, it was how he played. On one play Huerter turned down a corner 3-point attempt to drive to the hoop. He was cut off and threw the alley-oop to Collins. The pass was poor but using his athleticism, Collins made it look good, lifting his teammates with a laugh about it too. That is leadership.
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.
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.