The Atlanta Hawks lost to the Charlotte Hornets, 126-109. The team struggled to score from three. The defense was not considering who they were playing. Finally, everyone on the bench failed to contribute except Onyeka Okongwu. What can Hawks fans take away from this game?
Considering Lamelo Ball was out, and the Hornets’ best player right now is Gordon Hayward, this was a pretty disappointing loss. Going into this game, I expected the Hawks to win this one.
The team couldn’t make their threes all night, as they shot 22% from the field. John Collins was the worst offender on the team, going 0-for-7 from three.
What can Atlanta Hawks fans take away from the loss to the Hornets?
Despite the game being close during the first two quarters, it started to not go the Hawks’ way in the third quarter. Atlanta only made eight field goals in the third quarter. The Hawks missed 16 shots in the third. If the Hawks want to win games, that can’t happen.
The Hawks made somewhat of a comeback in the fourth quarter. Despite being down 20 points at the beginning of the quarter, they brought down the lead to 13 with around six minutes.
Although I thought the Hawks weren’t gonna win at that point, it seemed like the game would be closer than it ended up. The Hornets lead ballooned up to 20 points again and Atlanta would take its first loss of the season.
Who led the way for the Hornets?
Kelly Oubre Jr. and Nick Richards were the two notable scores for the Hornets. Oubre had 24 points on 45% shooting from the floor and Richards had 20 points on a perfect 9-of-9 from the floor.
Going into the game, I thought Oubre would get buckets but I didn’t expect this from Richards. Based on the first three games, I would say that the young big man has improved on his game. Still, the Hawks didn’t play good defense and letting the Hornets score 126 points is unacceptable.
"You've got to give credit to them. They made shots and they made plays." — @TheTraeYoung pic.twitter.com/IBK4jfCcE5
— Bally Sports: Hawks (@HawksOnBally) October 24, 2022
How did the Hawks duo of Young and Murray do?
The Hawks were led by Trae Young, who had 28 points and nine assists. Even though he got his points, Young shot a very horribly 36% from the field. Most of his struggles came from the three-point line, where he went two for eight.
His co-pilot, Dejounte Murray had 19 points and five assists. Murray shot better than Young, going 46% from the field overall. Additionally, Murray was solid from the three-point line tonight, going 2-for-4 from three.
The bench struggled in this game for the Hawks. Only Okongwu was able to get into double figures. This has been a trend and a reason why the Hawks having missing Bogdan Bogdanovic. It is still unclear when he will be able to return but hawks fans should hope for sooner than later, as this team needs his three-point shooting and bench scoring.
If the Hawks want to avoid the play-in, they need to not drop games like these. In an East that is stacked with good teams, losing games like this is a non-priority if the Hawks want to make the play-in.
The Hawks have two more chances to make sure they don’t squander games like this away when they face the Pistons back-to-back on Wednesday and Friday. Their first game against a really good team is on Saturday on the road against the Bucks.
The Hawks will be on the road for these games, and they go on their first road trip of the year.