The Atlanta Hawks hosted the red-hot Sacramento Kings in a game that saw former-Hawk, Kevin Huerter, back at State Farm Arena. Atlanta snapped Sac-Town’s 7-game winning streak, topping the Kings, 115-106.
The Hawks showed no mercy to Huerter and his new Kings’ teammates, scoring 35 points in the first quarter alone. Trae Young got things in motion for Atlanta with 11 points and 2 assists in the first frame. He finished with a team-high 35 points & 7 assists. A relief for Hawks’ fans, Young probably had his most-efficient shooting night of the season, going 11-19 from the field and 4-7 from three.
It was more of the same in the second period, as the bench unit picked up right where the starters left off. Atlanta used a team-effort to score 37 points and go into the half with a season-high 72 points.
The Hawks’ defense looked very polished, as Nate McMillian’s bench rotation put together a full performance. The ability to have either Young or DeJounte Murray on the floor at any point in the game has provided the Hawks flexibility to experiment with different lineups, much like they did in the first-half of the game against the Kings.
The second-half was a completely different story, with both teams struggling to score. Young continued to thrive, but besides that he did not have much help. Young had a trademark three to end the third, splitting a double-team and draining a “logo-three.”.
The fourth quarter was about as anemic as an NBA quarter can go, with both teams scoring a mere 18 points. While some of that can be credited to the defensive effort of both Atlanta and Sacramento, it just seemed no one could make a shot outside of Young and De’Andre Hunter, who finished with 13 points on the night. Murray struggled from the field shooting just 5-16 from the field, but still tallyied a stat-line of 15 points, 4 assists, 7 rebounds and 3 steals.
Huerter’s return to Atlanta was a bit anticlimactic as he only finished with 13 points on 4-10 shooting. The Hawks kept their former-teammate in check who is shooting a career-high 47.3% from three to start the season.
This was a nice bounce-back win for Atlanta, coming off a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday. Atlanta remains three games back from the one spot in the Eastern Conference. The team is in a good position to make up some ground with the schedule easing up in the coming weeks.
Atlanta travels to Houston Friday night to play the lowly-Rockets.
