The Atlanta Hawks picked up a much needed win on Wednesday night, ending their four-game losing streak with a 120-117 victory over the Sacramento Kings.
Thanks to a noticeable improvement in ball-movement and shot selection, as well as some hot shooting from De’Andre Hunter in the third quarter, four Hawks players eclipsed the 20-point mark and the team shot 53.6% from the floor [their fifth highest mark of the season].
Atlanta’s defense was impressive in this one. They did not allow the Kings to get hot from beyond the three-point arc, and while they did allow Sacramento to get to the basket too often, with 47% of Sacramento’s shots came at the rim, Onyeka Okongwu and John Collins’ rim protection was phenomenal tonight, as the Kings could only convert 22-36 of their attempts at the rim.
Offensive rebounding was an issue for Atlanta in the first-half, as the Kings held a 7-3 advantage in this area entering the break, however the Hawks tightened things in the second-half, only allowing three offensive boards the rest of the way, which was really encouraging to see as the team is still without their leading rebounder in Clint Capela.
This victory did not come easy, as Atlanta blew away a 7-point lead in the final minutes, allowing the Kings to go on a 14-2 run to take a 117-113 lead with just 1:16 left in regulation. A nice and-one finish from Trae cut the lead to one, before two huge misses at the line from Domantas Sabonis, opened the door for the Hawks to reclaim the lead.
A successful challenge from the Kings gave Atlanta the chance to run a side out-of-bounds play with 31 seconds remaining in regulation. With the defense playing to keep the ball out of Trae Young’s hands, Dejounte Murray and De’Andre Hunter ran a beautiful give and go play off the inbounds leading to Murray getting fouled at the basket. He would knock down both free throw’s to put the Hawks up one.
The Kings had a chance to take back the lead, but Murray picked De’Aaron Fox’s pocket with 20 seconds left, and turned it into a lay-up on the other end which sealed the deal for Atlanta, leaving the Sacramento crowd stunned.
While the offense stagnated a bit down the stretch, this was still a good performance for an Atlanta team that badly needed a victory entering the match-up. Collins turned in one of his best performances of the season, scoring 22 points on an extremely efficient 7-11 shooting performance, while securing 12 rebounds and adding 2 steals and 2 blocks in 40 minutes of action. Hunter scored 12 of his 22 points in the third quarter and grabbed 8 rebounds tonight, which was one of his best rebounding performances of the season. Young was clearly looking to get his teammates involved more, only taking 12 shots on the night, but still managed to score 21 points. Murray also had 21 points, and chipped in 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.
For Sacramento, Domantas Sabonis led the way for them with 20 points, 14 rebounds and 8 assists. De’Aaron Fox added 25 points, with 11 of them coming in the fourth quarter, and former-Hawk, Kevin Huerter, poured in 24 points.
Atlanta will look to notch a second straight victory on Friday night, when they will be facing off against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers. This is the second and final meeting for these clubs, and Atlanta recently fell to the Lakers at home just one week ago. Tip-off for this one will be at 10:30 p.m. eastern from LA’s Crypto.com Arena.
