The Atlanta Hawks fell to the Indiana Pacers on the road for their eighth straight loss. Jalen Johnson’s absence is certainly hurting the 22-27 Hawks. Their offense has been poor over this losing streak, but their defense let them down against Indiana. The Pacers and Hawks have been involved in many high-scoring affairs over the last two seasons. This game added more contests to that category.
Quin Snyder rolled out a new starting five. Dominic Barlow got his first start with Atlanta at power forward. He recorded 10 points (5-9 FG), three boards, and two blocks.
Despite going down 24-40 after the first quarter, Atlanta responded with its own 40-point frame in the second. Garrison Mathews broke out for 14 second-quarter points on 3-4 shooting from deep and 5-6 from the charity stripe. Indiana only took a four-point lead into halftime.
With both squads scoring 31 points in the third, it all came down to crunch time in the fourth quarter. The Pacers led 127-122 with 1:30 left on the game clock. Both teams got stops, and then Atlanta won a key out-of-bounds challenge to receive possession. Trae Young hit a heavily contested triple in the corner to make it a 127-125 Pacers lead. However, Tyrese Haliburton and Aaron Nesmith calmly sunk four clutch free throws to seal the victory.
Atlanta’s three-point shooting had dipped to a league-worst level over the past two weeks. In this game, the Hawks shot 14-37 from deep. Trae Young dropped 34 points (11-26 FG) and a whopping 17 assists. Dyson Daniels also had a great offensive performance- 23 points on 8-15 shooting. Zaccharie Risacher put up his second consecutive strong game with 17 points on 3-5 shooting from deep. While the starters all had a positive plus/minus, only Garrison Mathews delivered a strong bench performance. The Pacers’ reserves outscored the Hawks’ bench 44-31.
Mathews broke out of his shooting but the rest of Atlanta’s bench struggled, shooting a combined 6-17. On the other hand, Obi Toppin and Aaron Nesmith scored 18 and 13 points off Pacers’ bench, respectively. Pascal Siakam led Indiana with 20 points, while Andrew Nembhard added 19 points.
The Hawks have been in close games against the Houston Rockets, Minnesota Timberwolves, and now the Pacers. They fell in all three. Atlanta will try to snap the skid on the road Monday night when it takes on the Detroit Pistons.
