The Atlanta Hawks continued their home stand Saturday night against the New York Knicks, where they lost 125-128.
Atlanta was on the second night of a back-to-back. Friday night’s game saw them falling to the Miami Heat, extending their losing streak to five games.
With an even tougher stretch of games coming up, Saturday’s matchup against the Knicks felt like a must-win.
New York has been one of the Eastern Conference’s best teams so far this season. They entered the game against Atlanta with an impressive 21-9 record, placing them just behind the Detroit Pistons for first place in the standings.
Even without veteran forward Josh Hart, who missed Saturday’s game with a right ankle sprain, the Knicks have a balanced roster capable of beating any team on any given night.
Not having a key frontcourt piece meant New York was going to give Karl-Anthony Towns as much action as possible. With that in mind, Atlanta needed a major boost from their bigs if they were going to stay afloat against a physical Knicks team.
Onyeka Okongwu was due for a big night. Coming into Saturday night's matchup, he had missed each of his last seven three-point attempts.
Okongwu wasted no time making his presence felt.
He broke out of that slump quickly in this one. Atlanta made it a focus to get Okongwu going from beyond the arc, setting him up for two great looks from the outside in the first quarter. He scored six of Atlanta's first eight points.
He drained one more in the next frame, going 3/4 overall from deep in the first half. Asa Newell, Atlanta's rookie forward, had himself quite the first half as well. He provided an instant spark off the bench, putting up ten points and connecting on two threes.
The Hawks were down 13 entering the final 24 minutes, and if they were going to cut back into the lead, they needed Okongwu to keep it up.
Coach Snyder quickly got him involved in the third quarter. Atlanta's first basket was another Okongwu three, followed up by him converting on an and-one after a tough finish.
Just when the game looked out of reach, the Hawks stormed back to cut the lead to six. Entering the fourth quarter, hope was very much alive.
Onyeka Okongwu had his biggest moment of the night late in the final quarter. With just three minutes remaining, he drained back-to-back threes, giving the Hawks their first lead since the beginning of the night.
Okongwu finished the night with 31 points and 14 rebounds, while knocking down six of his ten three-point attempts. Newell chipped in 12 points, going 2/3 from beyond the arc.
If Okongwu and Newell continue to shoot the ball like they did Saturday night, the Hawks will be just fine.