The Atlanta Hawks kicked off their 5-game Western Conference road trip on Monday night in a less than ideal manner, losing to the Portland Trail Blazers by a final score of 129-125.
This one was close throughout, as the Hawks never trailed by more than 10 points, and actually had a chance to tie the game with less than 30 seconds remaining – when Gary Payton II fouled Bogdan Bogdanovic on a three-point shot attempt. However, two crucial misses at the line from Bodanovic, put Atlanta in a position where they were forced to foul the rest of the way and from there, the Blazers were able to put the game to bed.
This was a disappointing loss for Atlanta, as they took 15 more shots than their opponents, and held a 21-3 advantage in 2nd chance points thanks to a dominant performance on the offensive glass, yet they could not find a way to slow down the Blazers’ offense, allowing them to shoot 43/79 (54.4%)from the field and 19/40 (47.5%) from three-point range enroute to a 139.1 offensive rating. Damian Lillard was a thorn in the Hawks’ side all night long, putting up 42 points on 10/21 shooting, including a perfect 17/17 performance at the free-throw line. Jerami Grant and Anfernee Simons chipped in with 22 and 21 points, respectively.
Despite Trae Young missing tonight’s matchup with a sore right ankle, the Hawks offense wasn’t much of a problem, as they posted a 135.9 offensive rating themselves – their third highest individual-game mark of the year. The biggest difference in this one, when looking at these two team’s shot profiles, was that Atlanta a) made 6 fewer threes than Portland (and took 10 fewer threes overall) and b) were far less efficient on their looks from inside the arc, going 31/64 (48%) on these looks vs. 24/39 (61.5%) for Portland.
Dejounte Murray stepped up to the task with Young out, posting a career-high 40 points, to go along with 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 0 turnovers. Bogdan Bogdanovic added 23 points and 7 assists and played well despite the two missed free-throws in crunch-time. Clint Capela dominated the boards tonight, snagging 15 rebounds, with 10 of them coming on the offensive end of the floor. John Collins and AJ Griffin were both solid, adding 16 and 13 points, respectively, on efficient shooting. De’Andre Hunter struggled in this one, going just 4/13 from the field, and only managed 10 points tonight despite getting some good looks at the basket.
Atlanta’s record now stands at 25-26 on the season, and the team is dangerously close to missing out of the Play-In tournament, as they sit just 1.5 games ahead of the 11th seeded Indiana Pacers. With the trade deadline looming, this is a critical stretch for the Hawks.
The team will look to get back on track Thursday evening, as they travel to Phoenix for a date with Chris Paul, and the Suns. Tipoff is at 10pm EST.
