The Atlanta Hawks (35-36) had nine turnovers in the first 12 minutes of play in their 117-112 loss to the visiting New Orleans Pelicans who were without Brandon Ingram. After beating the Memphis Grizzlies and getting their third win since John Collins went down in convincing fashion on Friday, there was a renewed sense that they could get right ahead of the postseason.
They are now a full game behind the Charlotte Hornets for the nine-seed and 4.5 games ahead of the Washington Wizards for the final play-in spot.
Both teams were idle on Sunday.
Trae Young made his return from a one-game absence. He finished with a 21-point, 10-assist double-double but also contributed to the giveaway with five turnovers all by himself in the first quarter.
The Atlanta Hawks dug themselves too deep of a hole to climb out of vs NOP
Atlanta fell down by as much as 19 points, and closed down by 17 points, in the opening frame, as the Hawks gave the Pelicans countless opportunities to get out and run; a strength of theirs and a weakness of the Hawks. This led to a 17-7 advantage and a 64-42(!!!) deficit in paint points.
Tack on that they were minus-15 on the boards and outscored 14-6 in second-chance points and it’s not hard to see where this thing unraveled.
They squandered valiant efforts by Danilo Gallinari, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and Clint Capela who recorded his 29th double-double of the season. The Hawks are now 13-16 in those games after going 28-20 when he recorded one last season.
As for Gallo, he had 27 points with 16 coming in the second quarter. He did all he could to keep the Hawks in this one for much of the night. Bogdanovic did what he’s been doing and got to work in the fourth with 11 points in the final 12 minutes. To his credit, Young poured in seven points in the fourth and had just two more turnovers after the disastrous first quarter.
He also owned up to his part in the loss after the game.
"“I didn’t do a good job of taking care of the ball. I had 5 (turnovers) and I think we didn’t have enough shots. If I take care of the ball a little better, we’ll be all right” – Trae Young via Chris Kirschner/The Athletic"
The Hawks had just five turnovers in the second half with four coming right out of the break.
The hole was simply too deep as the Pelicans got 10 points from center Jonas Valanciunas and point guard Jose Alvarado in the fourth quarter with the latter coming up with free throws to essentially put the game out of reach.
It does need to be said that Young, who shot just 35.7 percent but hit 3-of-5 triples, and Kevin Huerter (0pts, 0-5 FG, 0-4 3P) have both dealt with injuries in the past few days, perhaps, explaining their performances.
Their next game is road date against the New York Knicks on Tuesday.
The Knicks are 5-5 in their last 10 games overall and 4-6 in their last 10 at home in Madison Square Garden. Still, the Hawks are winless against them in three tries this season and are just 12-22 on the road.
They absolutely have to take better care of the basketball and, as the team that turns it over the least on the season, the expectation should be that they will.