The Atlanta Hawks came out “flat” and stayed that way vs SAS

The Atlanta Hawks (26-29) fell down to the San Antonio Spurs 10-3 and that was practically all she wrote. They allowed the 13th-seeded Spurs to go off for 8-of-10 threes in the first quarter. Although they cooled off considerably, San Antonio finished shooting better than 56 percent from the deep en route to a 136-121 victory.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Hawks hit just 14 of their 43 triples.

A 43-point first quarter for the Spurs seemed to portend an even greater final deficit. But the Hawks found a rhythm in spurts to make it interesting a few times.

The Atlanta Hawks put on a clunker performance after talk of turning the corner

Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk spoke with reporters earlier in the day and spoke of how they were “comfortable” in moving forward with the current group at this time. After the game, Nate McMillan talked about the Hawks start and noted how he did not expect them to perform as they did.

"“I didn’t expect this…They outworked us, they played harder than us, they executed better than us and that happened for 48 minutes. This is a surprise.”"

This is the eighth time the Hawks have allowed an opponent to score 130 points or more this season. They are 0-8 in those games and, in fact, have won just two games when allowing more than 120 points.

Therein lies the problem; that is too many points to be giving up far too frequently. Only the Houston Rockets have allowed opponents to score at least 130 points more often.

Trae Young had 18 points and 11 assists. But he shot just 40.0 percent from the floor, went 2-of-8 from long distance, and had five turnovers. It marks his 20th game this season with at least that many. That gives him one more than Russell Westbrook and makes him second behind only James Harden in the NBA.

His postgame answer on the team’s energy was understandably lacking specifics.

"“It’s hard to have energy when they’re making shots and they’re making runs and we’re just not making it, not making plays, so it’s definitely tough to have a lot of energy when they’re making the plays.”"

A 32-point, 15-assist, 10-rebound triple-double to Dejounte Murray is evidence of that.

Were it not for Bogdan Bogdanovic (23 points, five rebounds, four assists, two steals) going 5-of-8 from downtown, the Hawks are shooting a paltry 23.6 percent from three.

That’s how close the Hawks were to this being an even uglier loss. This was the 17h time the Hawks scored at least 120 points tying them with the Memphis Grizzlies and Utah Jazz for fourth. They are now 13-4 in those games.

Clint Capela notched his first double-double in six games but he and every other starter finished the game as a minus-30 or worse. Capela was a minus-36. De’Andre Hunter, who we lauded for trying to diversify his offensive game, was a team-worst minus-41. Kevin Huerter had a full stat line but shot just 35.3 percent and was 2-of-10 on his threes.

The bench did its best to keep the Hawks in this one.

But Bogdanovic and Danilo Gallinari (16 points, nine boards) were the only ones to score in double-figures but the latter shot just 36.4 percent from the floor.

While the Hawks did outscore the Spurs in the paint 60-48, they got outscored on fastbreak points 23-10 and struggled with transition defense. They trailed by as much as 26 points but, frustratingly, got the deficit down to 12 points with a little over two minutes to go in the third but that “rally” was quickly snuffed out.

They dropped their first opportunity to show they made the right choice not making any moves at the trade deadline. Their next comes Sunday on the road against the Boston Celtics who have won seven straight and nine of their last 10 and just added Derrick White.

We also have to see to what extent John Collins re-aggravated his heel injury.

The Hawks still have the buyout market to fall back on to try to make a tweak if they deem it necessary. But what was supposed to be one of the easiest remaining schedules is proving why they still play the game.