The Hawks suffered a disheartening loss in Orlando on Wednesday night, falling to the Magic by a final tally of 135-124.
Orlando delivered the knock-out punch early in this one, shooting 62.5%* from the field, including 6-10 on three’s en route to a 50-22 lead after the first quarter. The first quarter rout was not just a result of hot-shooting for Orlando, but the fact the Hawks were just flat-out terrible in the opening frame, committing 10 personal fouls and 7 turnover’s**.
*(This is the third time in the last four games, Atlanta has allowed their opponents to shoot over 60% from the field in the first quarter)
**Atlanta finished with 21 fouls and 13 turnovers in the entire game just to underscore how bad they were in the first quarter, as half those totals came in the first alone.
Despite nothing going right for Atlanta to start, this game somehow was not over going into halftime thanks to De’Andre Hunter erupting for 20 second quarter points to keep the team within striking distance. Unfortunately, this was as good as it would get for Atlanta, as they would not cut the lead to fewer than 8 points the rest of the way.
Trae Young finished two assists shy of his career-high with 16 assists to go along with 19 points, on 6-15 shooting. Young struggled all night to score in isolation situations against Orlando’s length. Hunter led the way in scoring for the Hawks with 25 points. He finished a +5 in plus/minus, in 38 minutes, which is an impressive mark in a 16-point loss, but was mostly quiet offensively outside of his second quarter outburst. Onyeka Okongwu added a 15-point, 11-rebound double-double. Clint Capela had to leave this game early for Atlanta, and was later diagnosed with a calf-strain.
It was a pretty well-balanced scoring effort for the Magic, with eight players scoring in double-digits. Paolo Banchero, the number one overall pick in this year’s draft, continued to stuff the stat sheet, logging 20 points, 6 assists and 6 rebounds to go along with 2 steals and a block in 34 minutes. Franz Wagner finished with 24 points on 7-17 shooting. Bol Bol chipped in 21 points and grabbed 7 rebounds. Franz Wagner’s older brother, Mo Wagner, was also a thorn in the Hawks’ side, hitting a season-high 3 three-pointers on his way to 17 points.
Three things that killed the Hawks were fast-break points, their point-of-attack defense, and perimeter-shooting. Orlando stole the ball 10 times, and outscored the Hawks 19-4 in fast-break points (per nba.com). Additionally, due to shoddy perimeter defense, Orlando was able to put a lot of pressure on the rim, leading to 17 of their 36 three-point attempts being classified as “wide-open”. Orlando shot 58% on these looks. The Hawks actually took 17 “wide-open” three-point attempts as well, but conversely, only converted 5 of them, which points to the perimeter shooting issues that have plagued the team all season.
Having dropped a dismal 8 of their last 11 games, Atlanta needs to right the ship against a reeling-Charlotte Hornets team on Friday night. Tip-off for this one will be form Charlotte’s Spectrum Center at 7:00 p.m. eastern.
