The Atlanta Hawks were defeated by the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night, losing by a final score of 128-108 behind dominant performances from Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic.
Atlanta did a good job sharing the ball and attacking the basket early on, and shot 65% from the field in the first quarter. However, they could not stop Denver on the other end of the floor, as Jokic notched 5 of his 10 assists, and Murray got loose for 14 points in the opening frame to give the Nuggets a 35-30 advantage after the first 12 minutes.
With two minutes to go in the 2nd quarter and the Hawks only down by 9, the team was still within striking distance, however a 9-0 Denver run to end the quarter put the Hawks in a 70-52 hole going into the break. Perimeter shooting, second chance points and turnovers were all problems for Atlanta in the first half, as Denver made 5 more threes, snagged 6 more offensive rebounds (10-4 advantage in second chance points), and committed 5 fewer turnovers than the Hawks (11-0 advantage in fast break points).
Dejounte Murray came alive in the 3rd quarter, scoring 15 points and dishing out 4 assists in the period, and the Hawks trailed by just 11 going into the 4th. Atlanta got the lead down to 8 with under 7 minutes to play before Nikola Jokic and Jamaal Murray put the game to bed, combining for 13 points over the next five minutes, leading Denver on a 15-4 run that forced Nate McMillan to wave the white flag and pull his starters.
The Hawks were without Trae Young* tonight, and certainly missed their point guard on the floor, as they committed 16 turnovers and had a hard time creating good looks from the perimeter – as they shot only 6/20 from three tonight. Their 20 three-point attempts were tied for their lowest mark of the season. By contrast, the Nuggets only committed 12 turnovers, and went 15/38 from distance tonight, and the +8 advantage in fast-break points as well as a +27 advantage in points from the perimeter proved to be too much for the Hawks to overcome in this one.
*(Young missed tonight’s game with a non-COVID illness)
Dejounte Murray led the way for the Hawks, putting up 28 points to go along with 10 assists in the loss. De’Andre Hunter followed his season-high 26-point performance last night, with 20 points on 8/15 shooting against the Nuggets. A.J. Griffin added 15 points, and Clint Capela contributed a 12-point, 11-rebound double double. John Collins and Bogdan Bogdanovic were quiet in this one, putting up just 6 and 8 points respectively.
As mentioned earlier, Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray dominated tonight’s matchup. Jokic posted a 14-point, 18-rebound, 10-assist triple double (his 7th triple double in his last 8 games), and Murray poured in a season-high 41 points (and went 7/12 from downtown) and dished out 7 assists. Michael Porter Jr. (23 points) and Aaron Gordon (15 points) combined to score 38 points on 16/26 shooting.
This was always going to be a difficult one for the Hawks to win as it’s no easy task playing the Western Conference-leading Nuggets on the road, on the second night of a back-to-back without your best player, and the team can at least take solace in the fact that they’ve picked up 2 wins already on this difficult Western Conference-road trip.
With last night’s loss, the Hawks are back to .500 (27-27) and will look to get back to winning ways on Tuesday night against the New Orleans Pelicans. Tipoff for that one is at 7:30pm EST on Bally Sports!
