ANOTHER Nine down: The atlanta hawks are 7-11

The last nine games have been something. The team finally got healthy but it wasn’t until they were well into their West Coast trip. The Hawks went 3-6 these last nine games but the win versus the Washington Wizards was the most convincing to me. It was a game they were “supposed” to win and they did so in a pretty commanding and consistent way when they outscored the team 30-11 in the second quarter. The same problems showed briefly with a first quarter plagued by efficient shooting from the perimeter for Washington (6/11) and over 50% from the field. But the response from Atlanta is what won them that game, scoring 12 points off of Washington’s seven second quarter turnovers while holding them to 11 points. 

The win in Boston over the Celtics for the first Emirates NBA Cup game for Atlanta was the most impressive to me. Hawks were down Trae Young in addition to De’Andre Hunter, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Kobe Bufkin, Vit Krejci, Seth Lundy, and Mo Gueye. It was a game where we saw Dyson Daniels score a career-high 28 points on 12/21 shooting while Jalen Johnson recorded a triple-double with 18 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists. A game where Larry Nance Jr. added 19 points off the bench, hitting five threes and going 7/10 from the field. This game exemplified the “next man up” mentality we so often hear players and coaches alike reference.

On to the losses, unfortunately. Much of what I said in the first post still reigns true. While there is obviously a positive impact on the defensive side with the addition of Dyson Daniels, Atlanta as a team still struggle with defending the perimeter. They lead the league in opponent three-point field goal percentage, allowing teams to shoot 39.9% against them. Teams also attempt a league-high 41.7 threes when facing the Hawks. Many of their problems still stem from the same issues such as transition defense and second chance points. When the offense isn’t clicking, as it sometimes hasn’t, being beat on the fast break after missing out on an offensive board is a small detail that cannot happen as a team. You want to control the pace of the game. 
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While I do think much of the Hawks’ woes lie in inexperience and unfamiliarity (there are some fairly young and new guys on the team now), they have to continue to come together and communicate actively and consistently on the defensive end but also be willing to take heed to each other’s observations. Opponents have scored 12 or more points off of turnovers in all games against Atlanta this year, with the most scored being 32 points twice. Hawks are 23rd in the league in turnovers per game and total turnovers, averaging 15.9 of them. If they can clean up a couple of these issues, it’ll help in the long run.