Trae Young finished with 22 points and 12 assists – securing his fourth double-double of the “young” season. Jalen Johnson, who drew the start against Zion Williamson, totaled 21 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists on a highly-efficient 8-13 shooting performance, including 2-3 from downtown. Dejounte Murray stuffed the stat-sheet with 20 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists.
Atlanta struggled to find their shooting groove in the first half – going 21-52 (40.2%) from the floor and 5-22 (22.7%) from beyond the arc en route to a dismal 103.9 offensive rating. Additionally, the Hawks committed 8 of their 11 turnovers in the first-half which, combined with their poor shooting, meant that they were beginning most of their defensive possessions behind the eight ball. As a result, they found themselves facing a 60-53 deficit after the first 24 minutes, which probably could have been larger if New Orleans did not run into their own problems from beyond the arc (NOP shot 5-17 (29.4%) from three in the first-half).
The Hawks came out of the halftime break with a point to prove, and really wrestled the control of the game away from the Pelicans in the third quarter, outscoring them 41-23. After being held in check for much of the first-half, Young was excellent in the third, racking up 11 points and 3 assists on perfect shooting (4-4 from the field and 2-2 from three), while leading the Hawks’ offense to a ridiculous 195.2 offensive rating in the period. While Young was the catalyst, with six different Hawks scoring at least 5 points in the 3rd quarter last night, it served as yet another reminder of how lethal Atlanta’s offense can be when they get everyone involved.
With Atlanta’s offense rolling, New Orleans was not able to cut the lead to single digits in the fourth quarter, and when it was all said and done, the Hawks’ went home with an 18-point victory.
Atlanta excelled in three main areas last night – rebounding, transition play, and three-point shooting. The Hawks rebounded 44% of their missed field goals (per cleaningtheglass), and finished the game with a +17 advantage on the boards, and a +10 advantage in second-chance points. Atlanta also secured an advantage in transition possessions coming off of live rebounds, scoring 1.50 points-per-play to New Orleans’ 1.00 ppp, while creating these looks at around the same rate as the Pelicans (each team turned roughly 35% of their defensive rebounds into transition opportunities). While there is certainly some luck involved with these numbers as we’re working with miniscule sample sizes – it is encouraging to see Atlanta gain an edge with their transition offense and defense early on in the season. Finally, the Hawks shot the three-ball far better than the Pelicans’ last night, finishing 14-41 from beyond the arc while the Pelicans went just 8-31. The Hawks’ 41 three-point attempts were a season-high, and it was even more encouraging that the team was able to generate such high quality looks from the perimeter.
Atlanta is back in action Monday night, where they will be taking on the Thunder in Oklahoma City. Tipoff for that one is at 8 p.m. eastern on Bally Sports. Go Hawks!
Disclaimer: All statistics used in this article are from cleaningtheglass.com or nba.com/stats
