Atlanta Hawks: Studs and duds from blown lead and loss vs Suns
It seemed as if the Atlanta Hawks had turned the corner. After all, they entered the fourth quarter of their matchup with the Phoenix Suns with a 98-86 lead. They had cut down their turnovers after having six in the first quarter to finish with 12 for the game. Even the three-ball had come alive; they’d hit 13-of-26 attempts entering the final frame.
However, disaster struck in the fourth quarter, leading to the Hawks being outscored 35-19 and leaving the Valley of the Sun with a 121-117 loss.
They shot 27.6 percent from the floor and went frigid from beyond the arc, going 0-for-7.
Meanwhile, they allowed Phoenix to shoot 66.7 percent overall and go 4-of-9 from deep. This included 10 points and five assists in the quarter from Chirs Paul who had six points and eight assists through three. Landry Shamet had nine clutch points as well.
Trae Young led the Hawks with 31 points (to go with 10 assists) and shot 43.5 percent doing so while going 4-of-9 from beyond the arc. He really accepted and rose to the challenge by his head coach to follow through on his own desire to play faster. But in the fourth, he too was way off, shooting 14.3 percent and going 0-for-3 from three-point range.
The Atlanta Hawks late collapse led to another loss on the road despite a wounded opponent
It was easily Young’s best game of the season through three quarters. But he took a couple of ill-advised (quick) threes late with the Hawks needing a bucket and to run some clock.
Young also received a technical for arguing on behalf of a teammate with three minutes to go and the Hawks up a pair. After the game, Nate McMillan voiced his displeasure with his point guard at that moment in no uncertain terms.
"“We continue to allow that to be a distraction where we stop playing or we foul purposely or we get technicals, and we’ve got to grow up, we’ve got to mature from that.” via Sarah K. Spencer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution"
Young didn’t completely agree. But in the end, the Hawks have lost five of their last six games. They also failed, once again, to take advantage of a team missing key players.