As the 4-6 Atlanta Hawks get set to play the third leg of their four-game road trip, a rematch against the 7-3 Utah Jazz, they’re looking to solve several issues on the floor. Among them, offensive chemistry, defensive effort, and letting the officiating get to them much to the chagrin of their head coach.
They could really use a soft landing but won’t get one at least until they host the Orlando Magic on Nov 15. But even they were able to get a big win over the Jazz, besting them 107-100 on the strength of Cole Anthony’s 33 points and 22 points with 10 rebounds from Wendell Carter.
Anthony had 24 of his points in the second half.
The duo’s performance is one the Hawks can largely replicate and certainly should look to if they want to get a win and stop their four-game slide. Just not for the reasons you might be expecting.
The Atlanta Hawks will need to replicate the Magic’s fourth-quarter efforts in their rematch with the Jazz
In the first meeting, Trae Young had 21 points, seven assists, and four rebounds while Clint Capela had 13 points and hauled in 10 boards while battling with three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert. But they weren’t as impactful in the fourth quarter as they had been in other parts of the game.
The duo combined for 12 points, 10 by Young, in the frame accounting for half of the Hawks production for the entire quarter.
They were 5-of-6 from the floor but the rest of the team shot 4-of-11 in the final frame.
On the other side, the Jazz put up 41 points on 59.1 percent shooting and went 8-of-15 from beyond the arc. It’s a similar issue they faced against the Warriors who did their damage in the third quarter behind 18 points from Steph Curry.
Jordan Clarkson was the third-quarter hot hand for Utah in the first meeting. But Donovan Mitchell, who missed that outing, is back in the lineup now. He had 21 points and seven rebounds in their loss to Orlando. Though, to the point about replicating the performance, he had just two points in the fourth quarter.
Orlando outscored Utah 32-15 in the fourth quarter, holding them to 31.3 percent shooting and 1-of10 from long distance in the process.
Anthony found ways to attack Royce O’Neal and Bojan Bogdanovic for 24 of his 33 points. Switches off of screens — much in the same way Steph Curry found his way onto Capela and Kevin Huerter in the loss to Golden State — making them expend energy on both ends of the floor.
Bogdanovic and Clarkson each had 10 points against the Hawks in what was the first of a three-game road excursion for the Jazz.
Now, the Hawks will try to repay the favor as they wrap their trip with a visit to the Denver Nuggets before welcoming the Brooklyn Nets to State Farm arena on Nov 14. They have to take care of business in Utah first, though. A strong finish would go a long way towards that.