Hawks lose second straight as Young and Murray sturggle from three

The Atlanta Hawks lost to the Miami Heat,106-98. The Hawks two stars shot the ball very poorly in this one. Trae Young scored 22 points shooting a horrible 25% from the field. Dejounte Murray scored dismal 13 points on 31% shooting from the floor. The Heat was led by Bam Adebayo who had 32 points on 65% shooting from the floor.

The Heat came out into this matchup with a lot of injuries. Jimmy Butler, Duncan Robinson, Victor Oladipo, and Omer Yurtseven did not play in this matchup due to differing injuries.

The Hawks started this one out with an eight-point lead in the first quarter. De’Andre Hunter had a solid start, making three of his first four shots. They held on to the lead going into halftime. John Collins had six points in the second quarter, shooting 60% for the quarter in the process.

The third quarter would be when the Heat started to take the lead. They took the lead midway through the third quarter and held it for the rest of the quarter. The Heat would keep their lead, for the rest of the game as Caleb Martin went for 10 points in the quarter. Martin ended up with 20 points on the night, shooting a lethal 66% from the floor.

Trae Young and Dejounte Murray both struggled offensively

Murray and Young both struggled in this game. More specifically, both of them struggled from three in this matchup. Young went 12% from three, and Murray shot 25% from three. This comes after the Rockets’ loss where both stars combined for over 80 points and neither shot below 45% from the field overall. Trae Young did have an amazing 14 assists in this game though.

The rest of the team did not fare much better from three, as the Hawks shot 27% from three overall. AJ Griffin shot the highest volume of threes with nine but only made two of them.

Overall, the team didn’t shoot great from the floor as they shot 39% from the field. Collins was the only player on the team to shoot well. Collins shot 64% from the field, scoring 23 points in the process.

Hunter shot well, going 6-of-14 from the arc. Those were the only two players on the Hawks to shoot well in this game on a higher volume than seven shots.

The Hawks really struggled to defend Adebayo without Clint Capela.

In the second straight game where they have been missing Capela, the Hawks struggled to defend the all-star during the entire night. Adebayo also ended up with eight rebounds as well. Additionally, Dewayne Dedmon had a solid game as well. He ended up with 13 points on 85% shooting from the floor.

The Hawks struggled in their last game without Capela as well. Clearly, the Hawks don’t do well against big-man without their starting big man.

As Capela should be back by Wednesday’s game against the Magic, they might be able to get away with this issue for the remaining time. If Joel Embild doesn’t end up playing in tomorrow’s matchup. As of this writing, his status for that game has not been decided.

So, what should Hawks fans take away from this loss?

The Hawks really struggled to defend the big man in this matchup. As already stated, the Hawks have had an issue with guarding the big man without Capela. They might get away with it against the Sixers, considering small-ball center Montrezl Harrell starts for the sixers (this is assuming Joel Embild doesn’t return for tomorrow’s matchup but this will be a major issue if Capela misses more extended time due to his dental pain.

The Hawks have a quick turnaround as they will play the Sixers on NBATV on Monday. While this will be a back-to-back for the Hawks, it will also be a back-to-back for the sixers with both teams traveling to Philadelphia (as the Sixers played the Magic on Sunday in Orlando) during the night.