Atlanta Hawks: Studs and duds from blown lead and loss vs Suns

Atlanta Hawks dud from collapse versus Suns: De’Andre Hunter turned in his worst performance

It had been a bit of an offensive resurgence for De’Andre Hunter a couple of games ago. He had 26 points on nearly 91 percent shooting and went a clean 6-for-6 from downtown against the Brooklyn Nets. While he “only” had 14 points in the following game against the Utah Jazz, he was still efficient, shooting 77.8 percent, and defended well.

He did neither against the Suns.

Hunter could manage just two points while going 1-for-9 from the floor and missing on both of his attempts from outside.

The fourth quarter claimed him along with most of his teammates, but for different reasons, as he went 1-for-1 in the quarter; his only shot attempt in the entire second half. This is the second game in a row he was basically ignored in the second half of a game.

Except they might have been wise to go away from him in this one. He had his hands more than full trying to contain Devin Booker.

It did not go well.

Booker went off for 38 points, 16 of which came on Hunter. He shot 54.5 percent overall and 42.9 percent on triples against Hunter. The field goal percentage was better defense than anyone else who guarded the Suns star. But it was still 10 percent higher than his season average.

Hunter is going to have off games offensively. Those will often come when tasked with stopping or at least slowing down the other team’s best player. When he does neither, it gets ugly as it did for the Hawks.

Booker had six points on 66.7 percent shooting, went 1-for-2 from three, and got to the free-throw line twice in the fourth quarter alone; though he could only hit one.

The good news is that Hunter should bounce back from this stinker just as he did after the last time he scored single-digit points.