The Atlanta Hawks came out listless and the Denver Nuggets did not.
That would all but sum up the Hawks’ 141-111 loss to the Denver Nuggets, who were on the second leg of a back-to-back, on Sunday. The Hawks, though, were shorthanded. Absent Bogdan Bogdanovic and Jalen Johnson, the Hawks were overmatched.
Hawks star Trae Young said Nuggets guard Russell Westbrook “joked” about the Hawks being shorthanded in explaining how he (Young) was able to get going in the second half.
Young scored 14 of his 15 points after the break but said the Nuggets did nothing unusual.
“Russ was … face-guarding me the whole game; didn't really leave me. And then when I came off screens, [Nikola] Jokic would sometimes be up, sometimes be in drop,” Young told reporters after the game. “I wasn't really seeing anything different. They were really being physical, but also just not leaving me and knowing who we had out and things like that. Russ was even joking about it a little bit.
“It's just one of them games. We got to scratch this, and learn from some of the mistakes we did, and move on. We’ll be alright.”
The Nuggets snapped a two-game slide and Westbrook earned Defensive Player of the Game.
Bounced back pic.twitter.com/E0sKrqPFUw
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) December 9, 2024
Young did dish out 10 assists, snag 4 rebounds, and come away with 3 steals to 4 turnovers in the contest. But his season-long shooting woes continued in a game where the Hawks needed him.
Young has already shot below 30% from downtown in 10 games this season.
He did that in 20 games (out of 54 appearances no less) in 2023-24. Young has also shot below 35% on 3P 16 times after doing so 29 times last season.
Conversely, Young’s 46.2% mark from the floor was his fifth-best of the season and came despite him facing additional attention. The Hawks had six players in double figures and one more, Clint Capela, on the brink.
However, De’Andre Hunter was the only Hawks player to reach the 20-point threshold.
He landed squarely on that mark, adding 3 boards and 1 dime. But he too struggled with efficiency, shooting 35% overall and going 3-for-9 from long range.
Encouragingly, Dyson Daniels had a more impactful game scoring the ball than he did in the previous outing. He has hit at least one triple in four straight games and is shooting 44.4% over the last three contests.
The Hawks also got solid contributions from Larry Nance Jr. and Onyeka Okongwu.
Hawks short-handed and out-hustled in loss to Nuggets
They still missed Johnson, who has the highest on-off differential on the team this season, per Cleaning The Glass, and Bogdanovic. The latter started the season rough. But he has hit his stride of late and remains one of the team's top scorers.
The Hawks did not shoot or defend well, which is usually a recipe for disaster. Hawks head coach Quin Snyder cited a lack of “urgency”.
Young says they had another disadvantage: Denver’s loss to the lowly Washington Wizards.
“Obviously you could say we didn't have the sense of urgency,” Young said. “I don't think we necessarily matched their energy. They came off of a loss that we've had, and we've taken. We know it's a bad loss. So they came off that last night and came in here with a different set of energy. You could just tell out there on the floor how connected they were with defensive calls and stuff that we were calling and everything. They were very in sync, and you could tell.”
The Wizards have won three games this season, two of which came against the Hawks in back-to-back outings in October.
A lot has changed since then, including the Hawks getting healthier.
It is not that the Hawks lost; they were down two of their top three or four players. Instead, this loss was a reminder of how precariously the Hawks sit between being a competitive bunch or nightly fodder.