The Atlanta Hawks notched their first win of their four-game road-trip with a narrow 117-112 over the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center on Wednesday night. Jalen Johnson led the Hawks in scoring with 23 points, Nickeil Alexander-Walker added 18 points. For the Nets, Michael Porter Jr. scored a game-high 32 points, and Cam Thomas added 19 points. Lots to discuss today, so let’s get to it!
The game started poorly for the Hawks, quite poorly in fact, falling behind 12-0 to begin as the Nets started the game well. The Hawks managed to recover from this wobble to begin, and it wasn’t long until they found themselves back in the lead before long behind some good defense.
“From the time we got down early and called timeout, our guys were focused on that end,” said Hawks head coach Quin Snyder of the early Brooklyn run. “Thomas and Michael Porter Jr. are hard to guard. Trying to do some different things with them to break their rhythm. Thought our guys executed and competed on the defensive end.”
However, the Hawks were dealt a major blow in the game after this incident saw Mo Gueye collide into Young’s knee:
Of course, it wasn’t that Gueye ‘fell’ into Young, but was pushed into him by Noah Clowney…and the foul was called on Gueye, somehow. Anyways, Young tried to carry on, walk it off, and play on, but it was soon apparent he could not continue and headed straight to the locker room, where he would not return to the game.
The Hawks listed Young out with a right-knee sprain, but will have to wait to discover the full extent of the injury. The good news, according to Snyder, is that the injury is not believed to be an ACL injury.
“The most important thing is that it’s not his ACL,” said Snyder of Young’s injury. “He’s going to get an MRI tonight or tomorrow and we’ll make a determination from there. Not sure how long or what respect but it’s something he’ll hopefully be back from whenever possible. He didn’t want to come out of the game. He’s such a competitor and takes a lot of pride being available. There’s been a lot of times in the time we’ve been together where he’s banged up and he goes out and plays, and you saw that tonight, too. He tried to stay in there. I told him, he said ‘Just give me a couple of minutes,’ and I said ‘If I don’t like what I see I’m taking you out.‘”
In the absence as to the degree of Young’s injury, the Hawks were left with the task in seeing this game out without their star guard.
So, how did they do it?
The answer was they did it by committee, with everyone chipping in not just with scoring but ball-handling, representing an early and unwanted test as to the ball-handling and creation the Hawks’ front office surrounded Young this offseason.
The Hawks were able to establish a double-digit lead in the second quarter and would lead by as many as 17 points, and one reason for this was the emphasis on attacking in transition and in the open court, with the Hawks at a bit of a disadvantage in half-court creation in Young’s absence (though this was more prevalent in the second half than the first — the Hawks did very well in first half in half-court offense).
After a steal from Luke Kennard, he pushes up the floor and while he effort at the rim is thwarted Kristaps Porzingis is on hand to follow home the second chance:
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After a block from Porzingis, Johnson attacks in transition, bullying his way to the rim and finishing, drawing the foul for the ‘and-1’ opportunity:
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After a Nets miss, Alexander-Walker pushes in transition and while he misses at the rim, Johnson is on hand to follow home the miss:
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While not every opportunity was taken advantage of, it was clear to see a shift of pace when Young was off the floor to attack more in transition, and with Johnson and Zaccharie Risacher the Hawks have the potential to run the floor, while others — like Kennard — can space the floor in transition, too. Part of this was also likely down to the Nets missing quite a number of shots in the second quarter, giving the Hawks an easy chance to fuel some offense. In the end, the Hawks scored 14 fastbreak points in the first half.
They were good in the half-court in the first half, too, but individual players made plays happen for themselves. Kennard was great in the first half, scoring 12 points in the first half (eight of those coming in the second quarter) in what was his best showing in an Atlanta uniform so far.
He reads this play very well, as Porzingis is about to get doubled in the post, Kennard directs a swap with Keaton Wallace, drawing Kennard’s man (former Hawk, Tyrese Martin) toward him and leaving Kennard open for a three off the find from Porzingis:
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Next, Kennard waits for the fly-by from the defender and then steps back behind the line to drain another three-pointer:
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Off the feed from Porzingis (who helped facilitate a team-high seven assists last night), Kennard quickly reads the defense doesn’t step up to meet him, and Kennard rises for the mid-range jumpshot:
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Kennard finished with 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field and 4-of-5 from three, a timely showing for Kennard when the Hawks needed his shooting and his efficiency, and he certainly provided them with that. Kennard would go on to close much of the game as affairs tightened in the fourth quarter, and while he was found out defensively in that time his play overall in this game can only be considered a positive.
“A lot of it is the game revealed himself to him where he had looks, he was spaced, he was aggressive,” said Snyder of Kennard. “That’s something we’ve discussed a lot. People forget sometimes that he’s not just a shooter but we do need him to shoot, because that sets up other parts of his game. Some of it is adjusting to know what this team needs from him. He played very well. If he can knock shots down he’s capable of making plays for other people when he gets in the lane. He’s a really skilled basketball player.”
Elsewhere, Johnson and Porzingis (seven points apiece in the second quarter) were hugely important in the Hawks building a double-digit lead without Young.
We’ve looked at a number of plays they’ve been invovled with, but they made some individual plays, too, including this authoritative drive from the corner from Johnson to take advantage of his matchup to score in the paint:
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This is a play you really like to see. Yes, Johnson should thrive in that kind of matchup, but you still love to see him attack it and look smoothing doing it.
Porzingis also used his advantage, his size, in making a play as he shoots over the defender:
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And, to finish looking at plays from the second quarter, we see Johnson and Porzingis combine to make a play in a pick-and-pop scenario, with Johnson handling the ball and finding Porzingis after being doubled, with Porzingis cashing in on the three:
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The Hawks took a 13 point lead into the locker room at half time, and looked fairly comfortable after that really encouraging second quarter. However, the Hawks lost some control as Johnson picks up three fouls in two minutes to reach four fouls with 9:29 remaining in the third, a long time for Johnson to be pulled from the action, which he was, playing just two minutes in the third.
Similarly, Porzingis also picked up three fouls in the third quarter, limiting him to just four minutes in the third. The Nets, in particular Michael Porter Jr. (who, may as well say it now, hit tough shots all night long — he was fantastic for the Nets last night) hit some shots and brought the Hawks’ lead down to six points within three minutes, leading to a Hawks timeout.
Out of the timeout, the Hawks stabilized and eventually re-established their double-digit lead to 15 points briefly. Behind another three from Kennard to end the third quarter, the Hawks entered the final quarter with an 11-point lead and looked back in control of affairs.
Even with four minutes remaining, behind an Alexander-Walker three, the Hawks still led by 10 points, and a quick reply from Porzingis after a Martin three gave the Hawks 115 points on the board with 3:24 remaining.
A quick look at the final scoreline would tell you the story of how the Hawks managed offensively down the stretch: poorly. They went completely cold, and the absence of Young was very sorely missed in this spot as the Hawks ran out of half court offense — their only points for the remainder of th game were two free throws from Kennard.
The Nets closed in, but only had one chance to tie the game, or reduce the lead to one, as Nic Claxton misses at the rim, and the Hawks — with great difficulty — claim the defensive rebound in the hands of Kennard, who puts the game beyond the reach of the Nets:
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Onyeka Okongwu is a little fortunate here, as Claxton gets a very open look at the basket here but misses. Okongwu does fight for the rebound and it eventually ends off the fingertips of Dyson Daniels to Kennard.
The Hawks survive, but it was clear to see — especially at the end of the game — how Young was missed.
“Any time a player of Trae’s caliber — particularly someone who has the ball and is orchestrating situations on the offensive end, that’s an adjustment that we had to make on the fly,” said Snyder of losing Young. “Whether it was Luke, Nickeil, Dyson, JJ, the key thing when you play that is that everybody has to be willing to play with the pass and try to get advantages that way. It’s something we’ll have to keep working on depending on where Trae is with his health.”
The good news for the Hawks — while the clutch offense wasn’t great — is that they do have the personnel to make plays by committee.
A drive from Alexander-Walker opens up the defense to find Gueye in the corner for a three:
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Keaton Wallace gets his head down and drives, kicking the ball back out to Porzingis for a three:
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We probably won’t mention Wallace again in this piece, so it’s a good time to mention I thought he gave the Hawks good minutes last night in Young’s absence, and the Hawks will need to rely on him in in the event of any future absence for Young. That could have varying results, but last night Wallace played well, dishing out five assists.
Elsewhere across the roster, Daniels gets inside in the half court and finds the cutting Johnson for a dunk:
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There’s a separate discussion that needs to be had surrounding Daniels. Even before Young’s injury, we saw an increase in his ball-handling responsibilities — mostly to start the game where it seemed intentional that Daniels was doing the early handling while Young was more off the ball.
Judging by the Nets’ 12-0 run to start, that strategy didn’t go well last night but it’s more so to point out that Daniels was already doing more ball-handling this game (which is something I commented on perhaps the Hawks needed more of after the Bulls loss). Daniels’ usage percentage was 20% in the first quarter and finished at 15% — for reference, his usage rate against the Bulls was 11%. The ball was in Daniels’ hands a lot more (especially given Young’s injury) and he did a good job facilitating, finishing with six assists. The Hawks already needed more of that while Young was on the floor, but they’ll need it especially more so if Young is out for a period of time.
Offensively, however, it was another difficult night for Daniels as he shot 3-of-10 from the field, scoring just seven points. While Daniels was a little more aggressive on his drives last night, he is still having trouble finishing right now, and he seems incredibly reluctant to shoot from the outside.
He has attempted just three three-pointers in five games now, and while he’s not a volume shooter he still averaged 3.1 attempts from three last season — he’s averaging 0.6 threes this year.
Clearly, there’s an injury that he’s surely carrying that’s affecting his willingness to shoot, but we don’t know for sure what that is because it’s not listed on the injury report and no one has seemed to ask about it, but clearly there’s something going on there. Defensively, Daniels is doing what Daniels does: another three steals to go with a block and his usual excellent defense, but offensively something strange is afoot.
Daniels talk aside and going back to the ‘playmaking by committee’ topic, as mentioned earlier the Hawks looked to push the ball more in the absence fo Young, and this will have to be a point of emphasis until he comes back.
After a steal from Alexander-Walker, Daniels pushes in transition, gets inside the paint and finds the trailing Porzingis for the dunk:
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On a drive from the Nets, Gueye digs down with his long arms and comes up with a steal. Kennard picks up the loose ball and finds Daniels, who pushes ahead and finds the streaking Gueye for the dunk:
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After a block from Daniels underneath the rim he grabs the rebound and sets off in transition, finding Kennard, who drives to the rim and kicks the ball out to Johnson on the perimeter. Johnson could shoot at this point, but fires the ball back inside to Okongwu for the dunk:
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Off of a Nets miss, Risacher gets the chance to push in transition, getting to the rim but missing in front of it. Okongwu grabs the offensive rebound and kicks it out to Johnson, who this time does take the three and drains it:
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In the end, the Hawks finished with 18 fastbreak points, 15 second chance points, and 27 points off of turnovers, with the Hawks’ increased tempo in transition proving vital in fuelling easier offense, as the half court offense would eventually stall in the fourth.
It really was playmaking by committee, with Porzingis dishing out seven assists, Daniels six assists, Johnson and Wallace five assists. In fact, every Hawks player other than Risacher (zero) had at least two assists (not counting Young’s one assist before having to leave). Speaking of Risacher, we need to have a conversation about this.
Prior to Young’s injury, Risacher was again struggling to make an impact on the court, and I just don’t believe he works with that starting lineup. He’s the fifth option out there, and outside of spacing the floor or running in transition, the Hawks don’t find him in the half court — he’s just not an offensive option out there and I think he may be better served coming off the bench and finding some offense with the second unit because he is borderline ineffective with that starting group of Young/Daniels/Johnson/Porzingis.
He was able to get some points in transition, but only scored eight points on 2-of-7 shooting, and had zero assists. It’s been a tough start to the season as both he and the Hawks are still trying to figure where he stands amongst all of this talent that has been brought in around him, but right now (well, prior to Young’s injury at least) he’s just not working with that starting lineup.
Looking elsewhere across the roster, Mo Gueye and Okongwu were fantastic last night. Gueye may have only scored nine points but he made some great offensive plays in the second half, and defensively he was active and right where the Hawks needed him. Okongwu continues his great start to the season, scoring 12 points and grabbing 14 rebounds.
It’s early, but if Okongwu continues playing like this I think he will begin to generate some Sixth Man of the Year buzz. In terms of who other players not really yet discussed, Nickeil Alexander-Walker was fantastic, scoring 18 points on 7-of-17 shooting from the field to go with three assists, two steals, and three blocks. While it wasn’t the best night shooting the ball for Alexander-Walker (2-of-8), his drives were so important to the Hawks — they all felt like important baskets when they came. Not to mention his defense…whew, he was impressive to watch. Finally, Jalen Johnson led the way with 23 points — including nine in the fourth quarter — on 10-of-16 shooting from the field; another efficient night’s work from Johnson, who led the charge with Young injured.
All in all, while there was a lot to like about the Hawks’ win last night, I’d be concerned about its replicability given that the opponent was the now 0-5 Brooklyn Nets.
It remains to be seen what the timeline of absence is for Young, and I’d be apprehensive about the Hawks repeating this performance on Sunday against Cleveland, for instance, but they played well last night in Young’s absence and just about held on. That will do, for now. And all of that was before any mention of rebounding, which again, was not great last night as the Nets grabbed 15 offensive rebounds.
The Hawks (2-3) continue their road trip against the Indiana Pacers (0-4), who will be on the first night of a back-to-back.
Until next time!
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