Over the course of an NBA season, there are a few games a fanbase can pinpoint as a bad loss. Come April, if the Hawks are in a tight playoff race, this game may be one that everyone looks back upon. The Hawks collapsed again in the fourth quarter and lost their fifth straight home game, 132-126 against the Houston Rockets.
Atlanta was outscored 44-25 in the final frame alone. Completely unacceptable to a sub-.500 Houston team that was 1-12 on the road heading into this game. This is a trend becoming way too synonymous with this Hawks club as a slew of bad decisions, horrible defense and questionable rotations, led to yet another fourth-quarter meltdown.
The Hawks wasted an absolute gem of a game from Trae Young who poured in 41 points and finished with 9 assists. Young was visibly upset with how the game unfolded, ultimately ending in a Hawks loss.
Veteran players from the Rockets, Eric Gordon and D.J. Augustin, killed Atlanta from all over the floor. Gordon finished with 32 points on the night, including a dagger three-pointer in the final minutes of the fourth. Augustin, a familiar foe from his Orlando Magic & Charlotte Bobcats days, had himself a night, finishing with 22 points and hitting two-game clinching free throws.
In a game where the Hawks led by as many as 19 points, the team looked magnificent through three quarters. Yet again, the game slipped away in the fourth, and even general manager Travis Schlenk, took notice with his comments on the Hawks sports station, 92.9 The Game.
“Good teams don’t do that. That’s what bad teams do. We just have to be honest about that,” said Schlenk.
Schlenk also hinted at the possibility of seeing Hawks rookies, Sharife Cooper and Jalen Johnson, getting playing time in the future. Especially since the pair have been playing terrific with the Hawks G-League affiliate, the College Park Skyhawks.
“They’ve been doing better down in College Park. Will we see them play? I don’t know. But at this point I wouldn’t mind seeing them play, I guess,” said Schlenk.
Schlenk has now put the team on alert and put the ball back in the court of head coach, Nate McMillan. Yes, the team IS marred by injuries, but a loss like this is a bad stain on the Hawks early-season resume. Atlanta now sits at 13-14 overall, which is 10th in the Eastern Conference. The silver-lining is that they are only three games back of a four seed. There is plenty of time to right the ship, but it needs to happen sooner than later.
The Hawks now turn their focus to another sub .500 team, traveling down to Orlando to face the Magic on Wednesday night. At this point, nothing can be chalked up as a “gimmie game” for Atlanta. A good team would show up angry and go and blow the brakes off of a five-win Magic squad. Only time will tell, but it is time to see the Hawks pick up their play and perform like we know they can.
