News Hawks Team Notes

[Atlanta Hawks]

Hawks annihilated in home loss to New York

Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images

The Hawks were throttled from very early on the game and showed little life.

The Atlanta Hawks found themselves on the wrong side of a pummeling, falling to the New York Knicks 121-106 at State Farm Arena on Saturday afternoon. Trae Young led the Hawks in scoring with 16 points, and Terance Mann and Caris LeVert both added 14 points to the Atlanta cause. For the Knicks — without Jalen Brunson — Karl-Anthony Towns led with 30 points and 11 rebounds while OG Anunoby added 24 points.

Heading into this contest — the first night of a back-to-back for the Hawks — both teams are essentially locked into their regular season fate. The Knicks are going to finish in the number three seed, while the Hawks are headed for the Play-In Tournament, although with more to play for in the sense that their seeding is certainly not final while the Knicks’ almost certainly is.

With this in mind, you would have expected the Hawks — who have lost two games in a row heading into this game — to produce a much-needed response at home.

What unfolded on Saturday afternoon...was not that.

The Knicks did not waste a ton of time running their lead to double-digits in the first quarter, in part due to the Hawks’ turnovers or missed shots directly fuelling the Knicks’ offense.

A blocked effort for Zaccharie Risacher inside fuels a transition fastbreak for former Hawk Delon Wright:

A contested three from Young ends in a miss, with Josh Hart rushing up the floor after contesting Young’s shot, where he receives the ball following the outlet pass, scoring at the rim and drawing the foul:

A missed three from Onyeka Okongwu in the corner is rebounded by OG Anunoby, who pushes in transition and bodies past Risacher to score at the rim:

The Hawks committed seven first quarter turnovers, with this Dyson Daniels turnover leading to another basket for Anunoby in transition:

The Hawks were just out of sorts in the first quarter, exemplified by Georges Niang and LeVert miscommunicating on this possession, with Niang rolling the ball out of bounds with LeVert coming towards the ball:

The Knicks shot 61% in the first quarter but it was the second quarter that saw the Knicks completely take control of this game behind a 40 point quarter on 75% shooting from the field and 7-of-9 from three. The Hawks, in contrast, shot 33% from the field and 3-of-15 from three. This...is a pretty good way to end up trailing, first, by 20 points and then by 31 points in the first half.

The Knicks shot an unbelievable percentage, the Hawks’ defense was poor...both of these were true last night. We’ll take a brief look at both of these in action.

From the Knicks’ side first, the Hawks occasionally helped them fuel their offense as they did in the first quarter as Young turns the ball over here, leading to the Bridges basket:

This wasn’t the only case of the Hawks being the makers of their own misfortune, as this save from Mann ends right in the hands of Towns, who is fouled by Dominick Barlow as he scores the basket:

One of Barlow’s three fouls in five first half minutes — not ideal on a night the Hawks are without depth and size — in itself another aspect the Hawks were sorely beaten by the Knicks.

Towns in particular poses a threat inside with his size and this was the case in the second quarter:

If Okongwu is caught having to cover off the ball-handler it leaves the roll-man free to roll to the rim, and Precious Achiuwa is able to roll with force to the rim and finishes with authority:

The Knicks hit seven threes, including a stretch where the Knicks hit six threes in a row as part of a 27-6 run that saw the Knicks build their lead from 10 to 31 points and the game completely out of the Hawks’ control.

Offensively for the Hawks, their offense in the second quarter was largely kept to the perimeter. The Knicks did an excellent job preventing penetration and being physical, and the Hawks compounded their defensive misfortunes by missing offensively.

The Knicks moves bodies well as the Hawks move the ball well, in this case it ends in Niang taking a contested shot and missing the three. When Mann rebounds the ball, he takes an ill-timed three after backing up:

“That’s the physicality of their defense, that’s how they’re built and it impacted us,” said Hawks head coach Quin Snyder postgame.

A decent look from Risacher, set up by Mann, is missed — one of many decent looks from three the Hawks did not convert:

Here, some good ball movement from the Hawks leads to another Niang shot in the corner for a three, but again it’s missed:

The Hawks struggled, while the Knicks shot a ludicrously high percentage...if just one of those things occurred that’s certainly one way for the Hawks to fall behind, but when they occur simultaneously then the outcome is as was seen on Saturday afternoon — an utter blowout.

“Part of when we’re good is when we’ve made shots and hit threes,” said Snyder. “When you find yourself where we are at halftime and we’re down where we are there’s no easy answer for those questions. Shots goes in and that seems like the right thing: they don’t go in. We weren’t stopping anybody anyway.”

The Hawks made a small run to reduce the lead to 22 points, but another 11-0 burst from the Knicks ripped any momentum the Hawks had and, from here, there was nothing the Hawks offered to get back into this game. With six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Snyder — with an eye on tomorrow’s fixture against the Utah Jazz — waved the white flag and sent in the reserves. The final margin of 15 points doesn’t, in any way, reflect how far apart the two sides were on Saturday afternoon — 30 points would have served a much fairer reflection on the gulf between the two sides.

The Knicks were superior in almost every facet: they took care of the ball, they were aggressive, physical, moved well defensively, punished the Hawks’ sloppiness, punished the Hawks’ lack of size, and caught fire from three. Postgame, it was clear that the Hawks knew they were second-best across the board.

“From the tip their aggressiveness and every manifestation of the game knocked us back,” said Snyder. “We have to be more focused on that. Every play has challenges in that regard, whether it’s running, defensively, you can point to anything. Everything starts and flows from there. We’re at a point in the year where we need to be ready to go tomorrow night, is what it comes down to. Establish that mindset, and we’ve had that. This is what it looks like when we’re not, especially during a certain stretch where we lost the game.”

“They were way more aggressive than us,” added Terance Mann postgame. “They made shots, we weren’t that aggressive on the offensive end, we weren’t getting to the paint and making the right decisions. We had a couple of wide open looks but those didn’t fall. They made shots and they were way more physical, way more aggressive than us. You can tell that was their mentality heading into the game and I think Karl-Anthony (Town) set the tone.”

Both teams played in a back-to-back situation on Wednesday/Thursday, heading for another one today, when asked if rest was a factor in this game Mann pointed to a lack of focus and execution of the gameplan.

“Rest isn’t the issue, we’ve just got to be locked in on what we’re trying to do, we’ve got to figure out what we’re trying to do,” said Mann. “We’ve got away from that these last couple of losses. Once we come together as a team and figure out exactly what we’re trying to do, we’ve just got to come out and execute it.”

“There’s got to be that urgency at this point (of the season),” added Snyder postgame.

The Hawks, at times, looked exasperated on the floor at times as the offense fell apart. Young started the game with two made threes but this was as good as it got for Young, who looked visibly frustrated at times on the court — it was not one of his finer games, finishing with 16 points on 5-of-15 from the field, not helped of course by the Knicks’ tough, physical defense, in which he was doubled often. What compounded this was that the Hawks missed a lot of shots around Young, with Niang in particular struggling to hit, shooting 5-of-16 from the field and 3-of-13 from three.

Okongwu was notably, and unusually, poor in this game, too — he was poor on the ball (four turnovers), made unforced errors defensively rebounding the ball, didn’t provide a ton of relief for Young on screening actions, and struggled to contain the Knicks’ size on the defensive end (and didn’t have a lot of help around him).

Other than an offensive burst from Mann, the Hawks were poor across the board offensively — this is not just limited to Okongwu — but as Snyder said, they weren’t stopping anyone on defense anyways; part of that is due to the Hawks’ disadvantages in this matchup, and the Knicks’ incredibly hot shooting.

“I think it’s always tough to react right after the game but they played harder than us, from the start they were more physical and played really hard,” said Zaccharie Risacher. “It was an issue for us in the first half. They shot the ball pretty well, they were efficient. We couldn’t find a way to stop that.”

It was a horrid game for the Hawks with little else to really note: the second half was essentially a write-off, it was just a disaster for the Hawks. Now, they are two games adrift of the Orlando Magic, and while that would normally be a disaster with five games remaining, two of those games are against the Orlando Magic.

The Hawks will need to be careful and take care of business; while they’re not finished in the battle for seventh they’re only one and 1.5 games ahead of the Bulls and Heat for the ninth and 10th seeds. Fortunately, the schedule favors the Hawks, beginning with a game against the team with the worst record in the league, the Utah Jazz, on Sunday.

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The Hawks (36-41) are back in action against the Utah Jazz (16-62) at State Farm Arena. An important game to take care of business, especially at home.

Until next time!

Source: https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2025...w-york-knicks-quotes-breakdown-analysis-video

 

[Atlanta Hawks]

Trae Young’s efficiency woes and more ahead of the postseason

Photo by Adam Hagy/NBAE via Getty Images

A few late-season thoughts on Trae Young, Mo Gueye, and Dyson Daniels.

As the NBA’s regular season comes to a close, the Atlanta Hawks (37-41) are en route to their fourth Play-In Tournament appearance in as many seasons – currently sitting in eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings.

Standings accurate of 4/7/2025

With just three games separating the 7-seed (Orlando) from the 10-seed (Miami) the results of Atlanta’s next four games will not only determine who they will face in the Play-In, but also the location of their Play-In matchup(s), as well as the number of games they will be required to win in the Play-In Tournament in order to qualify for the Playoffs – and a matchup against one of the Eastern Conference’s goliaths in Cleveland or Boston.

While I’ll be delving into the finer points of the postseason matchups as the Playoff picture becomes a little clearer, I thought I’d take some time today to dive into a few intriguing Hawks’ storylines ahead of the postseason. Let’s get into it.

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48.6% – Trae Young’s eFG%​

Trae Young’s offensive talent is indisputable, and this season he has cemented his status as an ‘All-World’ passing virtuoso – leading the league with 11.6 assists per game. His 45% assist percentage* ranks no. 1 in the league and is the fourth highest mark posted by an NBA player in the last five seasons.

*The percentage of teammates’ field goals that a player assists during their time on the floor. Only ‘21 Russell Westbrook, ‘22 Luka Doncic, and ‘23 Tyrese Haliburton have posted higher assist percentages in the past five seasons.

That being said, for a player who entered the league with a reputation as a dynamite scorer, who averaged nearly 30 points per game as a 21 year-old in his second season in the NBA, the degree to which he’s struggled with his scoring efficiency in year seven cannot be ignored, and to me, it’s one of the biggest question marks regarding his long term value as an undersized, offense-first guard.

This season, as you can see in the table below, Young’s effective field goal percentage (or eFG%, 48.6%) ranks dead last amongst the NBA’s high-volume shooters*.

*Players that have taken at least 17 attempts per game this season

His three-point percentage (33.7%) is tied for last amongst the players who have taken at least 500 threes. However the bigger reason behind his mediocre scoring efficiency is that he is shooting just 47.1% on twos this season — a career-low — and a mark that ranks in just the 30th percentile amongst point guards this season, per cleaningtheglass.

The two charts below are from dunksandthrees.com, and they display Young’s field goal percentage and attempts per 75 on both mid-range and rim attempts* over the course of his career.

*dunksandthrees.com defines rim-attempts as attempts within 5-feet, mid-range attempts are all other two-point attempts.

As you can see, while Young’s mid-range FG% is still a few ticks higher than the league-average, he is no longer converting these looks at the elite rate that he was back in 2022. And with these shots netting the Hawks fewer than 0.90 points per attempt over last two seasons, his efficiency no longer justifies the volume of attempts he takes from this area of the floor.

Another glaring concern that jumps out from the charts above is the degree to which Young has struggled to both generate and convert shots at the rim (layups!) since 2022.

In 2023, while Young was taking roughly five rim-attempts per 75 possessions, his 49.9% conversion rate on these looks was one of the worst marks in the entire league. Last season, Young’s rim-frequency decreased dramatically to 3.3 attempts per 75, and though his efficiency did improve, his 54.8% conversion rate still ranked in just the 14th percentile amongst all players, per dunksandthrees.

This season, Young hasn’t fared any better, taking just 3.4 rim-attempts per 75 while converting them at a miserable 51.7% clip – the fourth-lowest mark amongst players who have appeared in at least 25 games and average at least 30 minutes per game* this season, per dunksandthrees.

*97 players in this subset – only LaMelo Ball, Fred VanVleet, and Jerami Grant have fared worse at the rim this season.

Young’s struggles from inside the arc are a big part of the reason his isolation scoring numbers have fallen so dramatically – as you can see in the table below.

So what’s going on?

There is no obvious answer, but one potential explanation could be that Young is not 100% healthy. The Hawks have listed him as “probable” ahead of virtually every game* this season due to ‘right Achilles tendonitis’, and given his abnormally poor isolation numbers, there’s a chance that this injury is more serious than it appears.

*Ever since the team got fined for not listing him on the injury report prior to missing an NBA Cup game against Boston back in early November.

That being said, if this theory holds true, and it turns out this injury has in fact handicapped him to such an extent this season, it then begs the question: why haven’t the Hawks chosen to rest him more?

Young has played in all but five games this season, and even so, those five games were one-off absences, not an extended break. At no point were the Hawks competing for a championship this season. If their star player is truly hurt, then the rational thing to do would be to grant him some rest, and prioritize his long-term health for when it really matters — particularly if the injury is affecting his on-court production.

It would be foolish to assume that the Hawks coaching/medical staff are irrational people, which is why I’m skeptical that Young’s Achilles is exclusively to blame for his struggles this season – however if it’s not the injury, what else could it be?

The league has made an effort to crack down on embellishment over the past three seasons, a change that’s made it more difficult for Young – who clocks in at just 6-foot-1, 164 pounds* – to score in the lane. Could this be the reason for his struggles?

*Only rookies, Yuki Kawamura and AJ Johnson weigh less according to nba.com/stats

Though he is still getting to the line at one of the highest rates in the league*, as I’ve covered above, Young’s two point shooting has fallen off over the past three seasons.

*Young’s 7.3 free-throw attempts per game rank seventh in the NBA

If this decline is due to the rule changes, is there anything he can do to improve his efficiency? Or is this just who he is as a scorer at this stage of his career? The evidence would suggest the latter — which is a concern for Atlanta.

Young is still the heartbeat of Atlanta’s offense, and despite his less than desirable shooting numbers, remains one of the league’s most dangerous offensive weapons. It’s a credit to his immense talent as a playmaker.

That being said, this season has shown us that he is no longer as dominant of a scorer as he once was, and for him to get back to the peak of his powers, he simply has to become more efficient from all three levels of the floor.

Given how shaky he’s been from inside the arc in recent years, perhaps it would be beneficial for Young to spend more time working on his three-ball instead.

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105.7 - Hawks D-Rtg with Mo Gueye on the court this season​

At 6’10”, 210 pounds, with truly spectacular instincts on the defensive side of the ball, few players on the Atlanta Hawks’ roster have a higher ceiling than second year big, Mouhamed Gueye.

Gueye spent the majority of the pre-trade deadline portion of the season in the G League, however since then, over the team’s last 27 games, he’s averaged nearly 16 minutes of action in 24 appearances, while surprisingly serving as a starter in 22 of those contests.

While Gueye’s offense is still a work in progress, there’s no question about his ability to defend at the NBA level. Per cleaningtheglass, Gueye’s steal percentage (2.2%) this season ranks in the 97th percentile amongst all bigs while his block percentage (3.4%) ranks in the 91st percentile.

Since the trade deadline, no other Hawks rotation player has come close to matching his defensive impact, with Atlanta allowing just 107.7 points per 100 possessions during his time on the floor*. His net rating over this span leads all Hawks’ rotation players.

*which becomes all the more impressive when you consider that his minutes have primarily come against opposing team’s starters

#’s from nba.com/stats

To put it in layman’s terms, the dude is a monster on the defensive end.

My only gripe when it comes to Gueye is that he hasn’t played more. Sure his offensive skill-set is raw. He can’t really dribble, and he is shooting just 24.3% from three in the NBA this season. But given how tantalizing his defensive upside is, and that the Hawks’ are still a few years away from truly competing, is there any real downside to giving him some more minutes?

It’s not like the offense falls off a cliff when he’s out there. He’s a decent scorer from inside the arc, and his outside shot isn’t broken, as evidenced by him shooting 39.5% from three in the G League.

This season, only six (non-OKC) players have posted a lower defensive rating* during their time on the court than Gueye, and given that Atlanta has ranked 21st in defensive rating (117.9) since the trade deadline, I can’t find too many reasons for Gueye not to be playing more.

*It has to be emphasized that defensive rating is a team stat, not an individual one – however given Mo’s ridiculous on/off impact for the Hawks in less than 500 minutes of playing time, it’s evident that his defensive ability is one of the main reasons that this number is so low.

Gimme some mo’ Mo, please!

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7.9% - increase in opponent’s floater FG% when Dyson Daniels is on the court​

I won’t waste my time making a defensive player of the year case for Dyson Daniels. Evaluating defense isn’t easy, and I can certainly understand how someone could be swayed to give the award to Draymond Green or Evan Mobley this season.

However, what I will say is that I’ve been extremely ticked off by how lazy some of the arguments against Daniels have been. One of my (least) favorites is the argument that Daniels’ on/off impact on Atlanta’s defensive impact pales in comparison to some of the other contenders for the award.

Per cleaningtheglass, The Cleveland Cavaliers defense allows 4.8 fewer points per 100 possessions with Mobley on the floor. The Warriors allow 2.8 fewer points per 100 possessions with Draymond Green on the floor. Yet, the Hawks only allow 0.4 fewer points per 100 possessions with Dyson Daniels on the floor.

Does it matter that defensive rating is a team stat, and is not generally reflective of one player’s ability, but of the five-man lineups’ defensive aptitude as a whole, as well as the offensive efficiency of the lineups that they play against? Apparently not.

Never mind the fact that Daniels is on pace to average over threes steals per game this season – something that hasn’t been done since 1991. Don’t worry about the fact that he is about to obliterate the single-season “deflections” record of 315, with 427 deflection (and counting) this season.

Forget about the fact that despite Daniels’ rampant defensive activity, he rarely finds himself in foul trouble, averaging just 2.4 fouls per game. You don’t need to know that Daniels plays the majority of his minutes next to Trae Young, a defensive sieve who’s D-EPM* ranks in the fourth (!) percentile amongst all players this season.

*Defensive estimated plus-minus, a one number defensive metric from dunkandthrees —- methodology here

Why would any of that matter when Atlanta’s defensive rating hardly budges with Daniels on the floor?

I included Daniels on/off numbers from cleaningtheglass below, and as you can see, despite the Hawks forcing more turnovers, grabbing more defensive rebounds, and allowing fewer free-throws in his minutes, the reason this doesn’t show up in the on/off numbers is because opponent’s are shooting a whopping 48.9% on floaters, and 38.6% on non-corner threes when he is in the game. Both marks rank in the 11th percentile relative to other five-man lineups this season.

In fact, the Hawks actually have a more favorable defensive shot profile during Daniels’ minutes – allowing fewer threes, and more mid-range attempts. Yet, due to the massive uptick in opponent mid-range and three-point accuracy, this positive impact on the opponent’s shot profile is moot!

I’ve come to terms with the fact that Daniels likely won’t finish in the top-two in this year’s DPOY race, and that’s fine. But if you’re going to make an argument against him, all I ask is that you please don’t use his wacky on/off defensive rating impact to make your point.

All statistics used in this article are from cleaningtheglass, dunksandthrees, pbpstats, nba.com/stats, or bball-index.com.

Source: https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2025...s-stats-breakdown-analysis-news-opinion-gueye

 

[Atlanta Hawks]

Hawks lose to Orlando Magic 119-112

Mike Watters-Imagn Images

The Atlanta Hawks played the Orlando Magic for the third meeting of the season. Through the first two meetings, the two teams shared eerily even stats. Both scored 220 total points, the Magic made 78 field goals to the Hawks’ 77, and both teams amassed 26 turnovers. It’s a dead-even matchup by the numbers. This game would be the tie breaker of the season series.

Onyeka Okongwu scored a three-pointer to start the game, and Trae Young followed it with another for a 6-0 start. Okongwu would knock down another triple, scoring eight in the quarter. Caris LeVert led the team with 9 points as the Hawks took a 31-30 lead entering the second quarter. Paolo Banchero had answers every step of the way in the first half, scoring inside with ease.

Trae Young dominated with his in-between game in the first half, sinking multiple floaters.

Trae's 4th or 5th floater of the first half we lost count pic.twitter.com/beoP85GWI5

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 9, 2025​

The Hawks entered halftime trailing 66-57. Banchero led all scorers with 21 points, and Young scored 16 for Atlanta. The Magic forced 12 turnovers in the half, something the Hawks would surely need to clean up in the second half. The Magic began to take charge in the third before Young nailed a big three. The Hawks stayed in it but still trailed 84-92 before the fourth quarter began. Okongwu was having a great game, doing his job of both scoring and rebounding against a tough defensive team.

The Hawks continued to hang around, though they had not taken the lead again to this point. Midway through the fourth quarter, they trailed six points. The Magic started pulling away as the offense ran dry for Atlanta. They had stifled the Hawks’ offense and put the game away. With 1:43 remaining, the Magic maintained a 12 point lead with Banchero at the charity stripe.

The Magic went on to win 119-112.

Source: https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2025...2-trae-young-paolo-banchero-playoff-standings

 

[Atlanta Hawks]

Hawks at Magic: start time, TV, streaming, radio, game thread

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

This one for 7-seed in the conference with three games remaining.

The Atlanta Hawks (37-41) visit the Orlando Magic (38-40) in a battle towards the top seed in the Eastern Conference Play-In Tournament.

Please join in the comments below as you follow along.

Where, When, and How to Watch and Listen​

Location: Kia Center, Orlando, FL

Start Time: 7:00 EST PM

TV: FanDuel Sports Network Southeast (FDSNSE)

Radio: Sports Radio 92.9 the Game (WZGC-FM), SiriusXM

Streaming: FanDuel Sports Network app, Fubo, NBA League Pass (out of market), Youtube TV (NBA League Pass out of market)

Source: https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2025...gic-start-time-tv-streaming-radio-game-thread

 

[Atlanta Hawks]

Zaccharie Risacher’s career-high leads Hawks to 133-109 win vs. Nets

Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty

Incroyable!

The Atlanta Hawks were in Brooklyn on Thursday evening to take on the Nets in the first game of a back-to-back.

With three games left in the season, the Hawks are trying to win out so they can clinch the No. 8 seed in the Play-In tournament. Meanwhile, the Nets are still giving their young players a chance to develop going into the offseason.

The last time these two teams faced off, the Nets got the win at home, and the Hawks were looking to make sure that didn’t happen again.

The Hawks started off strong and led 10-1, thanks to Zaccharie Risacher getting out on the break like this.

Zacch steal & SLAM pic.twitter.com/uvm10yUDFa

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 10, 2025​

Risacher continued his strong quarter, this time with a crafty layup on a fast break once again.

Zacch with a Euro and lefty finish ‍ ‍

10 has 10 in the first pic.twitter.com/M93VsTbSp0

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 10, 2025​

Later on in the quarter, he knocked down his second 3-pointer and extended the Hawks' lead. The Nets couldn’t get much going on offense, and going into the second quarter, the Hawks led 33-14.

Risacher kept his hot streak going to start the second quarter, knocking down yet another 3-pointer.

Threesacher for the third time already tonight pic.twitter.com/l9b1YAFA5o

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 11, 2025​

The Hawks continued to pile the points on in the second quarter, even though the Nets found a little more of a groove. Just like how the Hawks kept running up the score, Risacher kept running up his point total with an array of finishing moves.

ZACCH HAS 23 IN 13 MINUTES pic.twitter.com/KaY1yS2QID

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 11, 2025​

Vit Krejci went to the upper room on this drive-by dunk on the baseline.

Vit vroom ️ pic.twitter.com/ZPZ3otQXNQ

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 11, 2025​

Trae Young got in his bag down the stretch of the first half and went with a behind-the-back move to drop his defender and get the easy layup. Going into halftime, the Hawks led 69-45.

WHOA TRAE pic.twitter.com/y6oxi1mCPg

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 11, 2025​

The Hawks came out and had fun in the second half, and all of it included Risacher, who knocked down two early 3-pointers. Young then connected with Risacher on this between the leg alley-oop.

TRAE & ZACCH SHOWTIME pic.twitter.com/8R2iqkRzJs

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 11, 2025​

Later on in the third, Young dropped a deep 3-pointer.

Trae from the Ebbets Field pic.twitter.com/tHWp2fBY5b

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 11, 2025​

The Hawks never let go of the gas during this game, and the Nets didn’t have enough to get back into it. Going into the fourth, the Hawks led 103-74. Apparently, the Risacher show continued in the game, and he got his 38th point with a 3-pointer.

SEVENTEEN THIRTY EIGHT

Zacch sets a new career high with 38 pic.twitter.com/p4sXOIXmea

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 11, 2025​

Unfortunately, Risacher was not able to get to 40 points, but the Hawks were able to get the win.

Risacher finished the game with 38 points, Young finished with 24 points and 12 assists, and Okongwu finished with 14 points and 15 rebounds.

The Hawks will be back in action tomorrow against the Philadelphia 76ers.

Source: https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2025...ks-brooklyn-nets-recap-video-highlights-final

 

[Atlanta Hawks]

Hawks at Nets: start time, TV, streaming, radio, game thread

Photo by Gary Bassing/NBAE via Getty Images

Three games to lock up eighth in the East.

The Atlanta Hawks (37-412) head to Long Island to take on the Brooklyn Nets (26-53).

Please join in the comments below as you follow along.

Where, When, and How to Watch and Listen​

Location: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York, NY

Start Time: 7:30 EST PM

TV: FanDuel Sports Network Southeast (FDSNSE)

Radio: Sports Radio 92.9 the Game (WZGC-FM), SiriusXM

Streaming: FanDuel Sports Network app, Fubo, NBA League Pass (out of market), Youtube TV (NBA League Pass out of market)

Source: https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2025...ets-start-time-tv-streaming-radio-game-thread

 

[Atlanta Hawks]

Young, LeVert go silly in Philly as Hawks lock up eighth seed, 124-110

Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images

Job well done.

Atlanta embarked on the last leg of their last regular season road trip of the season. Their final opponent? A Philadelphia 76ers team missing roughly their seven best players and more, leaving them with just eight players available.

While the undermanned Sixers got off to a much better start than the undermanned Nets did a night ago, Atlanta has too much talent to even flirt with dropping this contest.

Zaccharie Risacher built upon his huge 38-point night with some early buckets in transition:

Zacch has a pair of transition dunks in the first 3+ minutes pic.twitter.com/YPpM3AmMQR

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 11, 2025​

It was a tight contest early, however, as Philadelphia’s skeleton crew were able to match score for score with Atlanta.

The bench came in and made an impact, like on this wide open Terance Mann triple:

T. Mann triple pic.twitter.com/tooWkm13sF

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 11, 2025​

Atlanta’s real issue was on the defensive end, giving up too many cuts and drives to the basket. But with a short Sixers rotation, it would be likely the home team runs out of gas later in the contest.

After one quarter, the Hawks led 29-26.

Newsflash: Trae Young can still make some ridiculous shots. This early second quarter three was tough:

Trae SWISHED this tough 3 pic.twitter.com/SDb0HZqOKe

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 11, 2025​

Mouhamed Gueye also made an impact defensively — with this one leading to an easy score:

Mo leading a little defense to offense pic.twitter.com/BCL0C9FvLV

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 11, 2025​

Still, the Hawks couldn’t quite shake the Sixers, and the lead passed back and forth throughout the second period. Towards the end of the half, however, young players Marcus Bagley and Jared Butler caught fire and burned the Hawks from deep. Philadelphia was able to take a lead behind their hot shooting, although Atlanta never fell too far behind,

At half, the scoreline was 66-60.

Coming out of the gates in the second half, Atlanta picked up their energy on both ends of the floor. They almost immediately erased the deficit behind an 8-2 run.

Young and Risacher link up here for another Trae Bien finish:

Another Trae & Zacch fastbreak dunk pic.twitter.com/E4f3Fk8dql

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 12, 2025​

Then Young does all the scoring by himself:

Trae drills a three pic.twitter.com/roC0Llz5n3

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 12, 2025​

The Hawks still couldn’t quite shake the feisty Sixers, and it looked increasingly like the game would come down to the final minutes of play.

After three quarter, the Hawks reversed the halftime hole and led 91-85.

Caris LeVert was a big reason for the turnaround for Atlanta. He was a perfect 7-for-7 from the field in the first half, and he didn’t slow down much in the second half either.

Atlanta took firm control of the game by the fourth quarter, with some big contributions from Young’s scoring and passing. Young caught on fire in the fourth especially, getting downhill to the rim and stepping back for some long bombs:

36 FOR TRAE 6 THREES pic.twitter.com/V2r0LXTvlO

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 12, 2025​

The Hawks calmly put things away in Philadelphia to pick up their 39th win of the season and secure the 8-seed in the Eastern Conference Play-In Tournament.

Atlanta won their road finale 124-110. Trae Young finished with 36 points and 11 assists. Caris LeVert poured in 31 points on 12-for-15 (80%) shooting in 30 minutes off the bench. Mouhamed Gueye added 10 points and 18 rebounds also off the bench.

With little to play for, the Hawks come home to take on the Magic at 1 PM EST on Sunday in the season ender in a game that will likely feature the reserves.

Source: https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2025...iladelphia-sixers-nba-recap-final-video-stats

 

[Atlanta Hawks]

Hawks at 76ers: start time, TV, streaming, radio, game thread

Photo by Dustin Satloff/Getty

Last road game.

The Atlanta Hawks (38-42) end their regular season road campaign against the Philadelphia 76ers (24-56).

Please join in the comments below as you follow along.

Where, When, and How to Watch and Listen​

Location: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA

Start Time: 7:00 EST PM

TV: FanDuel Sports Network Southeast (FDSNSE)

Radio: Sports Radio 92.9 the Game (WZGC-FM), SiriusXM

Streaming: FanDuel Sports Network app, Fubo, NBA League Pass (out of market), Youtube TV (NBA League Pass out of market)

Source: https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2025...ers-start-time-tv-streaming-radio-game-thread

 

[Atlanta Hawks]

Hawks defeat Orlando Magic 117-105 on record night from Keaton Wallace

Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Keaton Wallce logs triple-double in the final game of the season

The play-in matchup is set for Tuesday. It will be the 7-seed Orlando Magic versus your 8-seed Atlanta Hawks. The winner will advance to the playoffs as the official 7-seed, while the loser will have to play for the 8-seed. That being said, the Magic and Hawks face off just two days prior — with both teams resting key players. The starting lineup included Keaton Wallace, Terance Mann, Zaccharie Risacher, Mouhamed Gueye, and Dominick Barlow.

The score was tied at 11 before Quin Snyder’s first timeout. Garrison Mathews entered the game shortly after for the first time since March 25th. Daeqwon Plowden also saw the floor in the first. The Hawks led 31-24 entering the second quarter. Vit Krejci sank two triples and had a game-high eight points.

In the second quarter, Jacob Toppin made his Hawks debut, draining a three-pointer for his first points. The Hawks led 58-46 at half. Mathews scored nine, while Barlow, Krejci, and Topping each scored eight.

Krejci and Toppin would start the second half in place of Risacher and Gueye. Mann scored 10 points in the first seven minutes of the third, extending the Hawks’ lead out to 15. Wallace had already logged a double-double with points and assists.

One Mann all by himself pic.twitter.com/nCF7H3EpiN

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 13, 2025​

Leading 109-92, Wallace reentered the game in hopes of notching his tenth rebound to log his first career triple-double. With just four minutes remaining, he grabbed a rebound to make pad his stat line to 15 points, 15 assists, and 10 rebounds.

While Wallace’s triple-double was the story, Plowden scored 17 and Topping scored 17 in his Hawks’ debut. With this win, they officially concluded the 2024-25 season with a 40-42 record.

Source: https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2025...om-keaton-wallace-trae-young-play-in-playoffs

 

[Atlanta Hawks]

Hawks supporting cast cruise to victory over Magic in regular season finale

Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

The end (of the regular season).

The Atlanta Hawks concluded their 2024-25 regular season with a 117-105 victory over the Orlando Magic on Sunday afternoon at State Farm Arena. Terance Mann led the the Hawks with in scoring with 19 points while Keaton Wallace registered a triple-double of 15 points, 15 assists, and 11 rebounds. For the Magic, Anthony Black scored 20 points while Jett Howard added 16 points.

The Hawks and Magic are already locked into their respective seeds: the Hawks will face the Magic in Orlando on Tuesday in the Play-In Tournament. As such, this game held absolutely no consequence for either team, and both elected to rest their star players ahead of the showdown on Tuesday.

“Over the course of the last few day, both teams looked at this game a little differently,” said Hawks head coach Quin Snyder. “There’s an evolution of a game-plan that gets put in over a course of time.”

While Zaccharie Risacher and Mo Gueye maintained their starting roles in this spot, they only played nine and seven minutes respectively while Mann played a surprising 29 minutes. Outside of these three, the Hawks played their end of the bench players a ton in this game.

There’s not a whole lot to say about the game itself — the Hawks shot an efficient 54% from the field and 41% from three (hitting 17 in total) as they established a large lead over the Magic which was reeled in the third quarter before extending it to a game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter. As it’s a very different type of game to end the season, we’ll look at some of these performances to finish the season.

Keaton Wallace was one of the top performers in this game, post his first career triple-double: 15 points, 15 assists, and 11 rebounds. The 15 assists are arguably the most impressive element of this performance, with Wallace taking over point guard duties in this game.

In an odd moment late in the game, Wallace appeared as though he had secured his triple-double with his 10th rebound of the game, checked out, and then had a rebound chalked off leaving him with nine rebounds. Wallace checked back in, secured two more rebounds to re-earn his triple-double.

With Wallace under a two-way contract and being ineligible for the postseason as a result, Sunday afternoon’s involvement was his last game of the season — a fact Wallace was aware of heading into the game.

“I knew it was going to be my last game of the season,” said Wallace. “I wanted to come out and play hard and make sure we play the right way and get a dub. A lot of things went my way.”

Overall, Wallace didn’t pack the scoring punch you might have expected in this spot, but he certainly helped the Hawks organize their offense and in a game like this one where many players who haven’t played a lot together assemble his ability to facilitate the offense certainly paid dividends.

“The reason that he did it was because of the way we play,” said Snyder of Wallace postgame. “When you spend as much time as we have talking about playing with the pass, playing with pace, spacing, second actions, movement, all of those things on the offensive end. When you see a group come out and attack collectively, good things happen. That’s what I felt like occurred. It didn’t feel like he was hunting anything or doing anything extraordinary trying to put up some kind of production, he just fell into it. On the last game of the regular season, to feel that I think is good for our guys to understand that’s the work that they’ve put in.”

Terance Mann led the scoring effort with 19 points on an efficient 9-of-14 from the field, 14 of which came in the third quarter. It was odd to see Mann play as many as 29 minutes when he’s likely to feature in the rotation on Tuesday, but he picked his moments well in this spot and provided an experienced presence out on the court.

His rotation running-mate Risacher played just nine minutes. I’m a little surprised that Risacher played at all, but if he was to play...wouldn’t have this been a perfect spot to try let him score 40 points and sway voters for Rookie of the Year with another big scoring effort? An odd one when it comes to Risacher’s minutes in this one.

Elsewhere, Jacob Toppin was impressive in the 26 minutes he was given: 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting and 5-of-8 shooting from three. Five threes represents a game-high from any player, and you certainly would not have expected them to come from Toppin.

In the context of the game, it certainly mattered. The Hawks’ 17 threes were a key component in winning this game, so Toppin certainly played his part. As did Daeqwon Plowden, who hit three threes himself en route to 17 points off the bench himself in an extended run of 31 minutes. A perfect 5-of-5 shooting from the field from Vit Krejci helped the Hawks as seven of the Hawks’ nine available players scored in double-digits — only Risacher and Gueye did not score in double-digits.

“A lot of people stepped up tonight, it wasn’t just me,” said Wallace. “Dom had a good game, DQ played today, so everybody had a role to play, everybody stepped up and showed out.”

Overall, the Hawks end the season with a 40-42 record and finished eighth in the Eastern Conference after 82 games. There was a period where the Hawks were in the mix for an automatic playoff berth with Detroit, Indiana and Miami, but the Jalen Johnson injury put pay to any hopes the Hawks had of making the top-6. With the major roster changes around the trade deadline shortly after that injury, Snyder praised the Hawks for what they’ve accomplished this season.

“When you factor Jalen Johnson out of that — six out of our top seven guys at the end of last year, earlier this year — what this group has accomplished, it’s pretty impressive to finish the season with 40 wins given the change and the adversity they’ve gone through,” said Snyder postgame.

---

The regular season is over, but the Atlanta Hawks are not done yet. On Tuesday they’ll take on the Orlando Magic in the Play-In Tournament for the chance to advance as the seventh-seed and a series with the Boston Celtics.

Until next time!

Source: https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2025...c-recap-video-quotes-notes-nba-keaton-wallace

 

[Atlanta Hawks]

Magic at Hawks: start time, TV, streaming, radio, game thread

Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

82 of 82.

The Atlanta Hawks (39-42) conclude their regular season with a bench battle against the Orlando Magic (41-40).

Please join in the comments below as you follow along.

Where, When, and How to Watch and Listen​

Location: State Farm Arena, Atlanta, GA

Start Time: 1:00 EST PM

TV: FanDuel Sports Network Southeast (FDSNSE)

Radio: Sports Radio 92.9 the Game (WZGC-FM), SiriusXM

Streaming: FanDuel Sports Network app, Fubo, NBA League Pass (out of market), Youtube TV (NBA League Pass out of market)

Source: https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2025...wks-start-time-tv-streaming-radio-game-thread

 

[Atlanta Hawks]

Hawks at Magic, 7-vs-8 Play-In: start time, TV, streaming, radio, game thread

Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

To clinch a spot in the playoffs.

The Atlanta Hawks (8-seed) travel to central Florida to take on the Orlando Magic (7-seed) in a chance to head to the first round of the playoffs and face the Boston Celtics.

Please join in the comments below as you follow along.

Where, When, and How to Watch and Listen​

Location: Kia Center, Orlando, FL

Start Time: 7:30 EST PM

TV: TNT, TruTV

Radio: Sports Radio 92.9 the Game (WZGC-FM), SiriusXM

Streaming: Max

Source: https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2025...yin-start-time-tv-streaming-radio-game-thread

 

[Atlanta Hawks]

Hawks flattened in 120-95 Play-In loss to Magic

Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

Win or go home Friday.

The Atlanta Hawks were in Orlando on Tuesday evening to face the Magic in the Play-In Tournament. The winner of this matchup would play the Boston Celtics in the first round of the playoffs, while the loser will have to play again on Friday against either the Chicago Bulls or Miami Heat for a chance to play the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round.

The Hawks and Magic have seen each other several times over the past few weeks, so they’re really familiar with how one another plays. Both play two different styles, and it would be key for the Hawks to set the tone.

The Hawks made sure to start fast with Trae Young finding Onyeka Okongwu for this lob.

Big lob to start the game! pic.twitter.com/1mRStTLtSK

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 15, 2025​

Later on, Okongwu knocked down this 3-pointer at the top of the key.

Big O top of the key pic.twitter.com/jMZ6vQ5zbE

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 15, 2025​

The Hawks were in a slump for much of the first, and it led the Magic to go on a run and take a 17-point lead. Going into the second quarter, the Hawks were shooting 33 percent from the field and 13 percent from three.

After not getting anything going in the first quarter, Young found sort of a groove in the second and went coast-to-coast.

Trae goes 94 feet and finishes with the left pic.twitter.com/SoVZY99xc6

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 16, 2025​

Zaccharie Risacher cut down the Hawks’ deficit with this nice 3-pointer.

Zacch step-back 3 ‍ pic.twitter.com/uDqYvhnXkz

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 16, 2025​

Though the Hawks found some offense, they weren’t able to keep it going with the Magic locking in on defense. The Magic were also still clicking on offense, and the Hawks didn’t have an answer.

With the Hawks going down by as much as 21 points midway through the quarter, they had a sequence where they scored five straight points, due to the hustle of Mouhamed Gueye.

Quick 5 thanks to Mo's hustle ️ pic.twitter.com/x94IghI0nw

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 16, 2025​

The Hawks continued to cut their deficit down by going to the line and getting timely buckets, and going into halftime, they trailed 61-47.

Young came out of halftime with a mission of being aggressive, and it helped the Hawks stay in the game.

Floater drops in for Trae pic.twitter.com/t5DRjn6IBd

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 16, 2025​

Gueye was making plays on both sides of the ball and got an easy dunk to go for the Hawks.

Mo is playing pic.twitter.com/O9opWOViDy

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 16, 2025​

Things kept going right for the Hawks throughout the third, and they were able to get it down to single digits after a Young lob to the Okongwu.

Ice & Dys feeding O & Mo pic.twitter.com/fSg0lo4QIt

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 16, 2025​

The Magic made a small run to extend their lead, but Georges Niang was able to hit a buzzer-beater 3-pointer.

Hustle plays and a Niang Bang at the buzzer to end the 3rd pic.twitter.com/3rUOfPf0qR

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 16, 2025​

The fourth quarter did not start off well for the Hawks, and they found themselves down double digits once again. The Magic kept creating easy opportunities for themselves and started knocking down threes, and the Hawks didn’t have an answer.

Caris LeVert got this and-one to go to try and get the Hawks back into it.

Caris elbow jumper and 1 pic.twitter.com/T5iymj4dc4

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 16, 2025​

In the end, the Hawks didn’t have enough to get back into the game, and the Magic got hot at the right time to run away with the win. Young also got ejected late in the game after picking up back-to-back technical fouls.

Young finished with 28 points and six assists, Niang finished with 15 points, and Okongwu finished with 11 points, nine rebounds, and three assists.

The Hawks will be back in action against either the Bulls or Heat at home on Friday.

Source: https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2025...ba-play-orlando-magic-video-stats-news-latest

 

[Atlanta Hawks]

Hawks overwhelmed by Orlando defense in Play-In loss to Magic

Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

The Hawks now face a ‘win or go home’ situation at home on Friday night.

The Atlanta Hawks lost the first of their opportunities to clinch a postseason berth as they fell to a 120-95 defeat to the Orlando Magic at Kia Center on Tuesday night. Trae Young led the Hawks in scoring with 28 points with Georges Niang adding 15 points. For the Magic, Cole Anthony scored 26 points, and Wendell Carter Jr. added 19 points.

The Hawks entered this game as slight underdogs heading in but played to a level far below that in the first quarter. A solid starting shooting the ball quickly went south, as the Magic hit the Hawks hard defensively in the first quarter, showing their intent to come across the next 48 minutes. The Magic’s swarming defensive activity, size, and length were all significant factors.

On a drive to the rim from Zaccharie Risacher, the Magic defense is there to meet him. Off the challenge from Paolo Banchero, he pushes in transition and finds Cory Joseph for the fastbreak basket:

This time, Young is met by two Magic defenders, with Anthony Black blocking Young, who doesn’t do a great job hustling back as the Magic attack — complaining at the officials — and Black hits the transition three, leading to a timeout:

On the drive, Terance Mann is challenged again by Banchero, and when the shot is missed Onyeka Okongwu is challenged by Carter for the jump ball:

On the drive from the corner, Niang runs into the challenge of Banchero, and his runner ends up falling short:

In hindsight, Dominick Barlow waiting in the dunker’s spot may have been a more ideal option on this possession.

Jonathan Isaac also provides a challenge with his combined size and length, as he comes up with the steal on this attempted pass from Young inside in traffic:

Off of a missed free throw from Caris LeVert, Isaac blocks LeVert’s follow is blocked at the rim:

The Magic ended the first quarter on an 18-2 run to take a 15 point lead into the second quarter — where their staunch defense continued to lock the Hawks down — as the hosts would go on to take a 22-point lead in the second quarter.

The Hawks looked battered but were able to mount a response as the Magic took their foot off the gas and made some mental lapses, conceding some unnecessary three-point plays. 10 points from Young in the second helped stop the bleeding but the Hawks were still up against it with a 14 point deficit to overturn in the second half.

The Hawks chipped away at Orlando’s lead in the third quarter, even whittling it down to just three points, with Young scoring 12 points in the third. While the Magic pushed this lead back up to nine points, a buzzer-beating three from Niang brought the lead down to six heading into a decisive fourth quarter. The Hawks, in response to this momentum shot, reply with a fourth quarter backline of Niang and Barlow; who were promptly obliterated to begin the fourth.

To begin, Carter gets a head of steam and steps into a jumpshot, which he hits over Barlow:

In the pick-and-roll, Barlow receives the ball on the roll and is blocked by Carter. The Magic push in transition and Dyson Daniels fouls Black, who goes to the free throw line:

Two free throws by Young cut the lead but the Hawks immediately concede as Cole Anthony steps into a three off of a simple screening action:

This is all on Barlow...what he’s doing here, I have no idea. This is his screening action to defend...what is Daniels supposed to do here once the Carter screen comes? Barlow is in the paint, and Anthony has an open shot in the fourth quarter of a must-win game.

To compound the run, the Hawks turn the ball over as Niang has the ball slapped away from him on the dig by Gary Harris, and the Magic push in transition, with Anthony finding Carter for the slam, leading to a Hawks timeout:

Putting Barlow in this spot was a mistake, clearly, and a bad one for Snyder to make to begin the fourth quarter as the Magic doubled their lead. The Hawks, meanwhile, would never get as close to the Magic as they were to start the fourth quarter; an opportunity squandered.

Another mistake Snyder made was sitting Mo Gueye — who had a huge impact in this game defensively — for too long. By the time Gueye returned to the game — after a quick blitz from Orlando — the Magic’s lead was back up to 14 points. The Hawks continued to struggle offensively while the Magic hit several jumpshots consecutively to push the lead back over 20 points. To finally compound affairs, Young picked up two quick-fire technical fouls — one for passing the ball to the officials too aggressively, and one for seemingly talking back to the officials — and was ejected from the game. To add insult to his wallet, Young decides to delay the game restarting as he heads to the locker room:

TRAE YOUNG HAS BEEN EJECTED FROM THE GAME AFTER HITTING A NASTY NUTMEG pic.twitter.com/NH3I6E4P8h

— Playmaker (@playmaker) April 16, 2025​

A poor look from Young — not as much the ejection itself, it didn’t really matter as the game was gone by this point (still not ideal to get yourself, the leader of the team, tossed), but there’s no need for the antics on the way out.

This is the explanation Young offered postgame on the incident, citing incidents in earlier games this season against the Magic, plays that went uncalled earlier in the game not just for himself but for his teammates.

“There was a lot plays throughout the game — they’re a physical team — but I’ve had two teammates hurt this year in one game against them,” said Young. “I’m not calling them dirty players or anything like that, they have a lot of talented players, but there’s a lot of plays and moments where guys want to be more physical to the point where it’s not basketball at that point. I think that’s where the frustration got. Sometimes I take my frustration out on the refs not just for me but for my teammates. I see Dyson Daniels going. He may not be household name yet but he deserves the same respect as some of these other guys. If you see a foul you should call the foul, that’s all it was for me. Nothing more, nothing less.”

When asked about the play postgame, Hawks head coach Quin Snyder offered his viewpoint on the incident but also revealed Young discussing the incident in the locker room postgame.

“You’re always concerned when there’s a hard foul that puts a player in some sort of compromising position that can result in an injury, that was my understanding,” said Snyder of Young’s ejection. “I saw that, I didn’t see what transpired afterwards. I know Trae’s aware of that as far as the importance of him keeping his cool. He’s addressed that already with our team and he’s quick to own that. The game was out of hand at that point anyway. This is playoff basketball. There’s going to be adversity, and we have to continue to handle it in a way that we can power through some of that, accept it, respond to it. I think that’s true for the whole game, not just a call here and there.”

“It’s one game, I’m not letting it dwindle, I’m not letting people think about what I’m feeling,” said Young of his postgame message to the team. “I told them I was sticking up for the squad, and I’m not going to let the refs frustrate me like that in our next game, I know we’ve got to win or go home next. I’m going to be ready and I told the team I’ll be ready for them and we’ve got to go home and take care of business.”

In the end, the Magic cruised to a 120-95 victory behind a 41-22 fourth quarter with both sides clearing out the bench with just under four minutes remaining. The Magic will take on the Boston Celtics in the 2-7 matchup, while the Hawks will face the winner of Bulls-Heat to decide which team will take on the Cleveland Cavaliers as the 8-seed.

Speaking postgame, Snyder was pleased with his side’s defensive showing in the third and how it got the Hawks back into the game before baskets from Anthony, Snyder believed, dented the Hawks’ confidence.

“I thought our execution defensively was really good in the third,” said Snyder. “We were able to defensive rebound which got us out and got us some good looks. I thought Cole Anthony, at that point in the game, really took over and score a bundle of points. It was a barrage and that had an impact on us psychologically. We had worked so hard to get back to that point and then the game got a lot harder when that lead got built up again, we got fatigued. A moment where we could put some pressure on them and they extended the lead back.”

“They made some more shots than we did in that fourth quarter,” added Trae Young postgame. “We fought hard and got back in it in the third and made it a game. I’m proud of my team and proud of the way we fought, but sometimes when you get down that much it’s hard to come back. You take so much energy to get back into the game and take the lead and extend it. We never got to that point but we definitely made it a game. I’m proud of the way we fought in that third quarter, in the fourth they just made some more shots.”

The Magic scored 41 points on 60% shooting from the field and hit five three-pointers in the final frame. That alone eclipsed the 4-of-21 shooting the Hawks shot from three-point range — a point of contention for Snyder postgame.

“We were ready to play but one of the biggest issues was we didn’t shoot open shots,” said Snyder. “For us to win we’ve got shoot more than 19 threes, we had guys pass them up.”

“...I want us to shoot at least 40 (threes) and we didn’t come close to that tonight,” Snyder would go on to say. “That’s a barometer for us, not just for threes in a vacuum, it’s usually indicative of how we’re playing.”

This was a very bad time for the Hawks to shoot their season-worst from three — the worst shooting performance up to this point in terms of three-point makes has been three games in which the Hawks hit just six three-pointers (all in losses). Young and Risacher shot 1-of-5 from three, while Niang shot 1-of-4 from three.

Just as damaging last night were the offensive rebounds that the Hawks conceded which, effectively, all led to Orlando second chance points: 12 offensive rebounds for 26 second chance points and this trend was consistent all night long.

Off a missed shot from Banchero, Black gets ahead of Young to collect the offensive rebound and scores the putback:

A deep three from Anthony is missed, but Carter wins the battle inside against Okongwu, collects the offensive rebound and scores the putback, plus the foul:

Following a miss from Banchero on a three, Carter bodies Gueye battling for the board, and Gueye is called for the goaltend on Carter’s second chance effort:

In the second half, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s drive inside is immediately cleaned up by Carter, who dunks the second chance home:

On the drive from Franz Wagner, Okongwu is forced to rotate over, and the Hawks just do not have the size to prevent Isaac from following the miss with a dunk:

Here, Daniels does really well defending Wagner off the dribble, but his hard work is undone as Carter wins the battle in the dunker’s spot against Niang, and Carter fends off Niang, collects the offensive rebound and scores over Niang, plus the foul:

Quite a demoralizing play that for the Hawks. Daniels does well out front and, again, the Hawks are just beaten to the second chance and not only concede a basket but the foul too.

In addition to the lack of three-point shooting and concession of second chance points, the Hawks just didn’t have enough offensive help around Young. Young, while inefficient from the field (8-of-21 shooting) did make up by shooting 11-of-12 from the line to edge up to 28 points on the game. The next highest scorer was Niang on 15 points.

Dyson Daniels was unable to find himself offensively in this game, his floater — like Young’s — just didn’t fall last night. Risacher seemed a little overwhelmed in this spot, shooting 2-of-10 from the field, while Caris LeVert shot 3-of-11 off the bench. The bench scoring was an aspect of this game that did not go in the Hawks’ favor. The Magic’s bench — led by Anthony’s 26 points — outscored the Hawks’ bench 57-30

Snyder was asked about Young’s performance in this game and referenced that the Hawks didn’t space or shoot enough to help Young offensively.

“I think, sometimes, people evaluate Trae’s performance based on statistics,” said Snyder. “I thought early in the game — depending on how they were playing him in pick-and-roll or defensively whether they sent him to his weak hand — those are the times when other guys have to be ready to shoot. When he was in those situations, I didn’t think we spaced as well as we can to create open shots and open passing lanes.”

One major positive in this game was the play of Mo Gueye, who had the task of defending Paolo Banchero, who was limited in this game shooting from the field, scoring 17 points on 4-of-13 shooting from the field.

Stat of the night:

The Hawks had a 103.9 defensive rating in 26 minutes with Mo Gueye on the court.

The Hawks had a 152.3 defensive rating in 22 minutes with Mo Gueye off the court.

— Brad Rowland (@BTRowland) April 16, 2025​

“We talked about that early that he needed to stay in front and contest and not foul,” said Snyder when asked of Gueye. “I thought the other guys on our team did a great job shifting which helped him stay locked in. I thought the same was true with Dyson on Wagner.”

Gueye’s length and movement — both laterally and getting back in transition — were really positive last night, and his performance last night can be one of reference going forward in terms of his potential — a discussion for another time.

Wagner, similarly, struggled from the field scoring 13 points on 6-of-15 from the field. Daniels did a very good job defensively on Wagner, who was led into shooting 0-of-5 from three which certainly helped the Hawks on those possessions.

If you had said prior to the game that Banchero and Wagner would combine for only 30 points, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the Hawks would easily have won this game. But the efforts of Carter, Black, and of course Anthony helped the Magic make up for Banchero’s and Wagner’s scoring struggles.

“The gameplan was trying to make it as difficult as possible for the two heads of the snakes and force other guys to beat us and you have to give them credit, they did,” said Young. “They came in, made shots, other guys like Wendell had a hell of a game on the boards. Their role players did what they needed to do. We didn’t want their main guys to beat us. We did a good job at that but their role players had a good night. That’s part of the reason it’s good you get a homecourt game, role players play better at home and that’s how they won but we’ve got another one on Friday.”

On both ends of the floor, the Magic’s size and length bothered the Hawks significantly, and in tandem with all the other factors discussed (the lineup to start the fourth quarter, the Hawks’ poor three-point shooting, the Magic’s offensive rebounding, the bench disparity etc.) proved too much for the Hawks in this spot. Young’s ejection, while not good enough in the moment, didn’t ultimately decide this game, it was gone by that stage.

Now, the focus shifts to Friday. The Hawks will be hosting the winner of the Bulls-Heat on Wednesday night in an all-or-nothing affair at State Farm Arena.

Win...or go home.

Source: https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2025...defense-magic-analysis-quotes-video-breakdown

 

[Atlanta Hawks]

Play-In Preview: Three keys for a Hawks victory

Photo by Fernando Medina/NBAE via Getty Images

Three things the Hawks need to do to beat the Magic.

The Atlanta Hawks travel to Orlando to take on the Magic tonight in a “win and you’re in” Play-In Tournament bout between the seventh and eighth seeds in the Eastern Conference. The Hawks are no strangers to this (relatively) new postseason format, with tonight marking their fourth consecutive Play-In Tournament appearance*, while the Magic are making their Play-In debut.

*The Hawks have a 3-1 record in Play-In games

The winner of tonight’s contest secures the 7-seed in the Eastern Conference and will face the Boston Celtics in the first round of the Playoffs (tipping off on Saturday), while the loser will await the winner of tomorrow’s 9-versus-10 matchup between the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat for a “win or go home” game on Friday.

Ahead of tonight’s game, let’s outline a few keys to victory for the Atlanta Hawks.

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1. Be Efficient From Inside the Arc​

It’s no secret that defense is Orlando’s calling card. During the regular season, the Magic ranked 27th in offensive rating and second in defensive rating, allowing their opponents to score just 109.1 points per 100 possessions.

While the Magic like to pressure opposing ball handlers — and they force turnovers at the second-highest rate in the league — another critical component of their defensive strategy is to take away the three ball and funnel their opponents to the interior as you can glean from their defensive shot profile below.

With Orlando allowing the lowest opponent three-point attempt rate in the league, it’s obviously going to be vital for Atlanta to score efficiently from inside the arc in order to come away with a victory tonight.

Fortunately for the Hawks, their interior efficiency has been solid since the trade deadline, with the team shooting 49.6% from floater distance* and 66.5% at the rim** over their last 31 games per cleaningtheglass.

* The fourth best floater FG% in the league over this span

** The 16th best rim FG% in the league over this span

That being said, if we look at their first three matchups* against the Magic specifically (all of which occurred after the trade deadline), while they maintained their impressive efficiency from floater distance, there were still some major question marks regarding their ability to finish at the rim.

* The Hawks went 1-2 against Orlando this season, excluding the final game of the regular season where both teams rested key players.

Per pbpstats, in the three meaningful games they played against Orlando this season, the Hawks shot 45-for-85 (52.9%) from floater range and a disastrous 33-for-64 (51.6%) at the rim.

Dyson Daniels, Onyeka Okongwu and Trae Young accounted for 32 of the team’s 64 rim-attempts during their first three games against Orlando, and if they can improve their efficiency at the rim while maintaining their accuracy from floater distance, it will give Atlanta’s offense a massive boost tonight.

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2. Keep Both Bigs Out of Foul Trouble​

Another defining characteristic of the Orlando Magic is their size. Orlando have four players in their projected rotation (five if you include Goga Bitadze) that are 6’10” or taller in Franz Wagner, Paolo Banchero, Wendell Carter Jr. and Jonathan Isaac.

Meanwhile, the Hawks have just two players that are 6’10” or taller on their active roster in Onyeka Okongwu and Mouhamed Gueye. While I wouldn’t call it a death sentence for Atlanta if one of Okongwu or Gueye gets into early foul trouble, it would certainly make life much more difficult for them on the defensive end of the floor.

The Hawks like to deploy Okongwu as the primary defender on Banchero*, leaving Okongwu’s frontcourt partner with the responsibilities of guarding Orlando’s ‘5’ (typically Carter Jr.) and serving as the primary rim protector.

*Per nba.com/stats, only Scottie Barnes has spent more time guarding Banchero than Okongwu this season

This isn’t a problem if Okongwu is flanked by Gueye, as he has shown that he is more than capable of playing this defensive role. Where things get a little dicey, however, is when one of Okongwu or Gueye has to share the frontcourt with Georges Niang or Terance Mann. Niang doesn’t have the speed and vertical leaping ability to hang with most frontcourt players, while Mann, at 6’5”, simply lacks the size.

Given how big Orlando is across the board, and the fact that they are far more efficient from inside the arc than they are from beyond the three-point line*, defending the paint (and specifically the rim) is going to be pivotal for Atlanta’s success on the defensive end of the floor tonight. This task becomes much easier for the Hawks if they are able to deploy their “double-big” lineup worry-free, for as long as is required.

*Orlando ranked dead last in three-point percentage (31.8%) during the regular season

To be clear, Niang and Mann both offer much more on offense than Gueye does at this stage of his career, and I’m not suggesting that Gueye should play 30-plus minutes in tonight’s game. However, given their opponent, if the Hawks are struggling to protect the paint, and neither Mann or Niang can get it going on the offensive end, Gueye’s defensive skillset will be much needed.

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3. Dyson Daniels, Exploit The Mismatches​

Dyson Daniels has had a spectacular season so far. The defensive clinic that he’s put on this season will undoubtedly earn him consideration for both the Defensive Player of the Year and Most Improved Player awards this season. His offense, which was a significant question mark entering the season, has been better than expected, and his scoring efficiency has been trending up for most of the season.

That being said, over his three contests against Orlando this season, despite drawing some of the less intimidating matchups on the offensive end*, Daniels has averaged just 11.7 points, 3.0 assists and 1.7 turnovers per game while shooting just 15-for-35 (42.8%) from the floor, including 0-for-5 from three.

*Against Orlando, Daniels has typically been guarded by Cory Joseph or Cole Anthony

After rewatching his field goal attempts from these games, I see little reason why Daniels can’t give Atlanta some more on the offensive end in tonight’s contest.

On the play below, he takes Corey Joseph on a ride to the basket for two points.

From the same game, here is another drive on Joseph for an easy two.

Here, he executes a lovely give-and-go with Okongwu, leaving Cole Anthony in the dust as he soars for the slam.

This play ends in a miss, but notice how easily he takes Anthony to the basket in transition. Regardless of the outcome, this is a great look.

Respectfully (but not too respectfully), neither Cory Joseph nor Cole Anthony can hang with Daniels one on one, and I’d like to see the Hawks and Dyson look to take advantage of these matchups when given the opportunity tonight.

One way they could look to do this is by tapping into Okongwu as the playmaking hub some more. As seen in a few of the clips above, with Okongwu handling the ball on the perimeter, this draws Orlando’s big man out of the paint which creates easier finishes for Atlanta’s perimeter players off a cut or a drive.

For Daniels, whose offensive game is still a work in progress, this could help get him some more makeable, comfortable looks.

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Hawks. Magic. For a birth in the postseason. Tip off is tonight at 7:30 PM on TNT.

Get your popcorn ready.

All statistics used in this article are from cleaningtheglass, dunksandthrees, pbpstats, nba.com/stats, or bball-index.com.

Source: https://www.peachtreehoops.com/2025...c-analysis-opinion-stats-video-nba-postseason