The Atlanta Hawks perimeter shooting let them down in a 124-107 loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night. This loss all but seals Atlanta’s fate as a play-in team this year, as they currently stand 4 games behind the Nets for the 6th seed in the Eastern Conference with 5 games remaining in the regular season.
Perimeter shooting was the difference between the two sides as the Nets went 15-33 (45.5%) from beyond the arc while the Hawks shot just 8-37 (21.6%) – and only went 4/-4 from deep after the 1st quarter. While Atlanta’s three-point percentage was not pretty, they did a good job of creating good looks from the perimeter – taking 17 corner-three pointers and 20 “wide-open” threes* in this one – however they made just 4 of their corner-three’s, and went 4-20 on their “wide-open” three-point-attempts, and just could not keep up with Brooklyn’s shot-making. The Nets were 4-7 from the corner, made 6 of their 13 “wide-open” three’s, and even when the Hawks played good defense, Brooklyn shot 4-7 on their “tightly-contested” three-point-attempts** which was especially demoralizing for a team struggling to find their shooting touch on the offensive end.
*(defined as a field goal attempt with no defender within 6-feet of the shooter)
**(defined a a field goal attempt with a defender between 2-4 feet of the shooter)
The Hawks actually held an 8-point lead after the 1st quarter as they managed to keep pace with the Nets from the perimeter, and did a good job defending the rim (Brooklyn shot just 2-8 in the restricted area). Dejounte Murray and Mikal Bridges led their teams in scoring with 13 points a-piece in the opening frame. The 2nd quarter was all Brooklyn, as the Hawks shot just 29% from the floor, including an 0-9 mark from three while Brooklyn shot 63% from the floor in the quarter, and went 4-10 from three, en route to a 4-point lead going into the break. After struggling for large portions of the game against the Cavs on Wednesday night, Trae Young was not good in the first half of last night’s game either. In 17 minutes of action, he was 1-9 from the floor with an assist and a turnover, and was a team worst -20 (nobody else had a lower +/- than -9) – meaning the Hawks outscored Brooklyn by 16 points in the 7 minutes that Young was on the bench. Despite Young’s struggles and the Nets’ advantage from the perimeter in the first half, Atlanta was able to hang around due to an 11-point advantage at the free-throw line, and a 12-5 edge on the offensive glass.
The 3rd quarter is where the game really slipped away from the Hawks as they were outscored 42-24 thanks to a 31-16 Nets’ run from the 10 minute mark to the 3 minute mark of the quarter. Atlanta committed three turnovers, and allowed the Nets to score on 11 consecutive possessions during the run. Brooklyn wiped out Atlanta’s first-half-advantages at the free-throw line and on the offensive glass in the 3rd quarter, taking and making 5 more free-throws than the Hawks and winning the offensive-rebounding battle 4-0. In addition to their lights-out perimeter shooting (5-11 from three), Brooklyn’s success in these two areas were big factors in them taking control of the game in the 3rd quarter. Trailing by 22 points entering the final frame, the Hawks wouldn’t come closer than 16-points the rest of the way, and waved the white flag with 4:08 left to play in the 4th quarter with Aaron Holiday, Garrison Matthews, Trent Forrest, Vit Krejci and Bruno Fernando closing this one out.
Mikal Bridges torched the Hawks for 42 points tonight, going 16-24 from the floor and 5-8 from three. Bridges has averaged 27.5 points per game since joining the Brooklyn Nets, and last night’s performance only added to the proof that he is more than capable of being a #1 or #2 option in this league. Dorian Finney-Smith added 19 points, Cam Johnson scored 16, and Nic Claxton did a bit of everything tonight with 14 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks and a steal. Spencer Dinwiddie dished out 12 assists.
For the Hawks, Dejounte Murray led the way with 21 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds. Saddiq Bey added 16 points and 7 rebounds. Trae Young finished with 10 points and 6 assists on an abysmal 3-12 shooting performance. John Collins finished with just 5 points, and was 0-6 from three tonight after going 13-27 from three-point land over his last 7 games. Bogdan Bogdanovic, A.J. Griffin and Onyeka Okongwu were the lone bright spots for the Hawks tonight, as all three finished with a positive +/- and combined for 35 points on 15-29 shooting. Bogi went 2-5 from deep while A.J. shot 3-4.
Atlanta’s next game is on Sunday evening against Luka Doncic and the reeling Dallas Mavericks. With the same record as the 9th-seeded Raptors and just a 1-game lead on the 10th-seeded Chicago Bulls, the stakes get higher by the day as the Hawks fight to retain control of the 8th-seed (which guarantees them a home Play-In game) in the Eastern Conference.
Tipoff for that one is at 6pm on Bally Sports!
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