The Atlanta Hawks have been riding the hot hand of Kevin Huerter as they make their way back up the standings in the Eastern Conference. After a slow start to the season, Huerter has come on strong, stepping in to start as the Hawks injury crisis deepened throughout November and early December.
In 225 career games, Huerter has connected on five or more 3-point attempts on 17 different occasions per Hawks PR. What is impressive is that with this season just under a third gone, Huerter has accomplished it on four separate occasions.
The Hawks have lost three of the four games where Huerter has achieved this feat the Hawks. The only exception to this was the game against the Boston Celtics where Huerter went 5-of-7 from deep to help the team win.
The Atlanta Hawks are not utilizing Kevin Huerter’s shooting.
Huerter has had seven games where he has shot three or more attempts from beyond the long line. Every time that he has hit three or more shots from the perimeter, he had made them at 50.0 percent or greater. He has hit over 70.0 percent from long distance three times on the season.
The problem is that the Hawks have a 4-3 record when Huerter makes this number of shots from beyond the arc. The main reason for this is the Hawks are going through an injury crisis similar to last season and they are not able to match it with the top teams they have lost to.
They have lost to the Utah Jazz, Charlotte Hornets, Brooklyn Nets, and the Golden State Warriors when Huerter has shot the ball well. These teams are all playoff-bound with the Jazz, Nets, and Warriors being at the top of the respective conferences.
Huerter has started on each of these occasions which means that the Hawks have been missing De’Andre Hunter. In the later games of his shooting stretch, the Hawks were also missing Bogdan Bogdanovic. If they can continue to keep Huerter hot when these players return then they are going to be a very hard team to beat.