This isn’t how the Atlanta Hawks (42-39) want to end the season or go into the Play-In Tournament. Their 113-109 loss to the Miami Heat, coupled with the Charlotte Hornets thrashing the Chicago Bulls, mean the Hawks are very much at risk of falling to the 10-seed with a loss on Sunday to the Houston Rockets.
What’s worse, the loss means that the Cleveland Cavaliers control their fate with the eight seed; a win and it’s theirs. That leaves their razor-thin margin for error to host their Play-In matchup at virtually zero.
Perhaps even worse than that, they squandered some dazzling performances from their offensive horses in Trae Young and Bogdan Bogdanovic.
The duo combined for 60 points, but it just wasn’t enough in the end.
Poor shot selection and turnovers doomed the Atlanta Hawks once again
The Hawks led by six points with 5:18 to go In a game where they were outshot from the floor (53.0% to 48.1%) and from three (40.0% to 27.6%). Their mark from beyond the arc is just their 10th-worst effort, but it could prove to be one the most costly if they do wind up falling all the way to 10th.
They are now 15-25 on the road and have lost back-to-back games away from State Farm Arena.
From that 5:18-mark on, the Hawks could only must six points on 44.4 percent shooting while blanking on their five attempts from deep, falling back into their habit of sticking with the longball even when it is not falling.
More than half of Atlanta’s nine shots in that stretch came from deep despite them leading.
The Hawks tied the game at 109-all with 1:27 on the clock, but two missed threes by Young and then Danilo Gallinari sandwiched a backdoor Bam Adebayo dunk from a Kyle Lowry assist.
After the game, Nate McMillan did not mince words.
Coach McMillan liked the defense, but wanted more from the late-game execution on offense. pic.twitter.com/R3bXYcWG0b
— Bally Sports: Hawks (@HawksOnBally) April 9, 2022
"“Our defense, I thought, was pretty good. Offensively, we just did not get what we wanted the last five minutes of this game….we didn’t execute.”"
On a night where Trae Young retook the total points lead while maintaining his hold on the assists lead, he also turned the ball over seven times. The Hawks turned it over five times in the fourth quarter alone, but just twice in those final five-plus minutes.
In the end, they fell in the closing minutes for the second time in three tries.
It is not a habit they can take into Sunday’s tilt or, should they move on as expected, in the playoffs or there will be a quick out.