Impressive Win Over Memphis Followed by Ugly Loss to New Orleans

Over the weekend Atlanta took on both the Memphis Grizzlies and the New Orleans New Orleans Pelicans, in what would end up being a 1-1 split, and the victory surprisingly came against the top-ranked Grizzlies squad. The pair of games revealed some of the quirks of having a team built around the foundation of a heliocentric superstar, while also demonstrating some of the conflicting nature of this season. Every time the Hawks have been close to extending their record beyond .500, a combination of bizarre effort and lackadaisical execution leads them back to square one. The Hawks sport the league’s second-best offense, scoring 115.6 a night, but it also holds the fourth-worst defense, allowing 114.8 a game.

Ahead of Friday night’s match-up with the Grizzlies, Trae Young was a late-scratch, after being ruled out with a left quad contusion. Young got the injury after multiple bumps and bruises from the Charlotte Hornets game on Wednesday. John Collins was still nursing multiple injuries himself, which meant that the Hawks would be playing without their two best players. But surprisingly that issue did not come to the forefront on Friday night. Atlanta routed one of the hottest teams from the Western Conference, 120-105, in a game that was never really close.

After the first half, the Hawks held a 19-point lead, behind strong shooting from Delon Wright and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot. Together they combined for 18 first half points on great efficiency. Wright was particularly sharp, finishing with 18 points on 7-of-11 from the field and 4-of-6 from beyond the arc, while racking up 5 steals in the contest. Good shooting was the theme of the night, with Atlanta shooting a blistering 46.4 from three as a team. 

There were some second-half runs, in which Memphis was able to cut the deficit down but ultimately it never got too close. Bogdan Bogdanovich dropped a season-high 30 points while shooting 9-of-15 from the field and 5-of-6 from three-point range. ‘Bogi’ helped carry the offense in the latter half of the game. It was a refreshing game for the Serbian sharpshooter, who had not shot over 45% from the field since March 1st. 

Players were making quick decisions, whether that was shooting, passing, or attacking closeouts. Without a player of Young’s caliber, Atlanta had no choice, but it goes to show some of the bad tendencies a heliocentric team can acquire. The defense was also improved without ‘Ice Trae’ something Memphis was not prepared for. Obviously, this team is not better without Trae, but sometimes if he is not on, the offense in general can look stagnant, and ultimately become predictable for opposing teams. 

Coming into Sunday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans, Atlanta was once again at a crossroads. Sitting at 35-35, a win against a severely under-manned Pelicans squad, would finally push the Hawks to an above .500 record, something that has not been the case since they were 13-12 back on December 6th.

Atlanta opened up the first quarter with nine turnovers, half of the time was a result of Jose Alvarado’s “peskiness” and the other half, a solid Pelican’s defensive scheme against Young’s preferred actions. The Hawks fell into a 17-point deficit, against a team lacking a handful of their key pieces, no Brandon Ingram, Zion Williamson, Devonte Graham, or Larry Nance Jr, which demonstrated a lack of respect for their opponent. 

Danilo Gallinari had one of his best games of the season, finishing with a season-high 27 points and while the Hawks managed to close the gap a bit before the half, it was all for not as they allowed a 31-point third quarter defensively, forcing themselves into an uphill battle during the final period. Despite trailing 91-76 entering the fourth, Atlanta did manage to claw back, ripping off a 17-6 run that had the game within three points with just under five minutes remaining. 

In some of the possessions late int his game, it became a game of margins. Young first hit a questionable three, with 14 seconds left on the shot clock around the two-minute mark to tie the game at 108. The offensive rebounding of Jonas Valencunias paired with the aggressive Alvarado drove pushed the game out of reach. Young had an opportunity to tie the game with a minute to play, and got himself a great mid-range shot, but it rimmed out.

Atlanta now looks to climb back to .500 with a Tuesday-night trip to Madison Square Garden to take on the New York Knicks. Atlanta has lost all three match-up’s to New York this season, and seven straight regular season match-up’s dating back to last year. Atlanta needs to keep pace with a victory tonight, and especially against a New York team that is only five games back of the final play-in spot. Tip-off tonight is via TNT at 7:30 p.m. eastern.