Recaps: Hawks vs 76ers (12/03/21) + Hawks vs Hornets (12/05/21)
Turns out my latest predictions about the Hawk’s success were flawed. We just saw them drop two games in a relatively demoralizing fashion to Philadelphia and Charlotte, the latter of which was a contest where Atlanta rarely led despite the Hornets missing Lamelo Ball and Terry Rozier. A quarter through the season and the Hawks are sitting at .500 (12-12). Accordingly, there’s been a mixture of good and bad here.
Defense has never been this team’s calling card during the Trae era and this was a glaring issue in both losses. As mentioned earlier, the Hawks seem to be content to focus on outgunning their opponents rather than trying to place maximum effort on both sides of the ball. Take the 76ers game where Seth Curry quickly amassed 11 points in the first quarter on shots that were basically wide open. You cannot let someone like Curry get comfortable curling off screens, and in that first period his shots felt like shooting practice.
Transition defense also kills Atlanta, and if opposing teams can get out on the break a basket can seem inevitable. Throughout the Charlotte game, Ish Smith pushed the ball on every transition opportunity he could and either got to the rim because no one stopped ball or compromised the defense to find open shooters. There’s no urgency for this team on that end right now — This can be seen in the lack of communication and effort in finding their respective man during the chaos of a missed shot. The Hornets feasted in the first half and ended up putting 68 points on the board on 53% shooting, to go along with 10 threes. When you’re getting easy shots in transition that can energize an opposing offense. I’m not expecting the Hawks to be a lockdown defense, but improvement can start by eliminating easy baskets off misses or turnovers.
To be fair to Atlanta, Miles Bridges and Kelly Oubre were phenomenal down the stretch with both shooting 100% in the fourth quarter on a combined 7-7. Still, it is disappointing to witness season high scoring numbers from John Collins (31) and Huerter (28) result in a loss. “I think it’s game-to-game inconsistency,” said Huerter in his post-game presser. SB Nation highlighted this consistency problem by pointing out some of the scoring numbers from Atlanta’s last string of games:
- 98 points conceded to the Knicks
- 111 to the Pacers
- 98 to the 76ers
- 130 to the Hornets
When this team is locked in they can be passable to slightly above average on defense, which is all an elite-offense needs to secure wins. Make no mistake, the Atlanta Hawks will emerge as one of the best offenses in the league by the end of the year. All we can hope is that the team plays with the same intensity on the other side of the ball.
Some silver linings amidst the past handful of games — Danillo is coming alive and scored in double figures against Philadelphia and Charlotte. Against Charlotte the veteran swingman had 13 points off the bench in the first half and if he can continue scoring in the mid-teens our offense won’t slow down even when the second unit comes in. John Collins has also been a swiss-army knife: He’s arguably the best play finisher in the league, punishes mis–matches, and has been showing flashes of elite help-side defense. He’s averaging two blocks per game and shooting 52.6% from three (40.6% for the season) in his last five games.
Hopefully Atlanta turns things around tonight against the Timberwolves, who have proved they shouldn’t be taken lightly this season. Even though it’s the second night of a back-to-back I expect to see the team come out with some more urgency.
