Second-year big man Onyeka Okongwu gave us yet another flash of brilliance in the Atlanta Hawks (34-35) 116-106 loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday. The loss kept the Hawks from gaining ground on the Brooklyn Nets who lost to the Dallas Mavericks on the same day. It also snapped their three-game winning streak.
There were several notable performances but others belong in the circular file.
Trae Young and Bogdan Bogdanovic struggled from the floor while Kevin Huerter and De’Andre Hunter continued their strong runs with solid two-way performances.
And then there was Okongwu, flashing the athleticism and power that has enamored fans since he was taken sixth overall in last season’s NBA Draft. The Hawks backup big man made quite the impression in this one, as he often does.
Onyeka Okongwu’s ceiling is sky-high if he can cut down on some mistakes
Okongwu finished the contest with 14 points, five rebounds, two blocks, and one assist while shooting 87.5 percent from the floor. He has averaged 13.0 points on 66.7 percent shooting with 7.0 boards, 1.0 blocks, and 1.0 assists over his last three outings, two of which were wins. Big O has now scored at least 12 points in four of his last five games.
What made this performance stand out was how short of a burst most of his production came in and, equally, how quickly he was taken out of the equation.
The cause of both the good and bad was, simply, him.
He scored six of his points –which he has notched twice before – along with two boards and one block in the first quarter. It is tied for his second highest-scoring opening frame of the season behind an eight-point performance against the Los Angeles Lakers in January.
Okongwu scored another four points on 2-of-2 shooting in the second quarter, snagging another rebound in the process. But he also picked up three personal fouls within a three-minute span with the final tow coming less than one minute apart. He then had to sit from 7:30 in the second quarter until there was 4:03 on the clock in the third quarter.
While he was in, he showed a bit of everything from blocking shots to dishing out dimes and, of course, delivering the boom on this vicious dunk.
OO OH MY pic.twitter.com/sCkSh13CkQ
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) March 17, 2022
The score was 42-all when he went out and the Hawks were ahead when he came back in.
But they went just 6-of-17 in the paint in that stretch that he was out while the Hornets hit 9-of-13 looks in the paint including 6-of-9 in the restricted area.
His foul issues are why he hasn’t scored double-digit points in five straight games after he got in trouble against the Los Angeles Clippers to finish with just six points in a little over 17 minutes of action off of the bench.
Out of 356 players to appear in at least 35 games this season, Okongwu ranks eighth in personal foul percentage at 36.6 percent.
There are a ton of role-playing bigs in this range. But the net starting-caliber center is Jusuf Nurkic at 31.7 percent.
Okongwu’s flashes are somewhat maddening because the fouls are holding him back from truly flourishing. The Hawks lose rebounding when they go from Okongwu to Clint Capela but they gain some mobility, particularly on the perimeter, though, Capela has made tremendous strides in that area.
The Hawks net rating is 2.8 points better with Okongwu on the floor instead of Capela. A lot of that has to do with who is on the floor with and against them at the same time and, as the starter, Capela is dealing with a higher level of competition.
Right now, the duo is a good mix of offense and defense, steady and explosive. But if Okongwu ever cleans up his issues with fouling, he can be a really good player in this league.