Hawks’ Jalen Johnson doesn’t miss a beat in exhibition opener against Rockets
The Hawks returned to the court after five months without basketball.
As in years past, the Hawks played their key rotational players in limited minutes. Guard Trae Young, forward Jalen Johnson and center Kristaps Porzingis played only the first half. While wings Dyson Daniels, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard, as well as center Onyeka Okongwu, logged some second-half minutes.
Despite the 122-113 loss, the Hawks showed flashes of how the new faces could work well together.
The pairing of Alexander-Walker and Daniels as stoppers on the perimeter looked as advertised. Porzingis and Young had some early cohesive moments.
Here are some observations.
Key moment: The Rockets had control of Monday’s exhibition matchup for much of the night. But some moments from Jalen Johnson stood out and continued to show why he means so much to the team.
With 4:22 left in the first quarter, Johnson caught a push-ahead pass from Dyson Daniels, absorbed a full-body from Rockets’ Amen Thompson, drawing the foul, then finished at the rim.
Johnson played 36 games last season after a torn labrum forced him to have season-ending surgery on his left shoulder.
Thompson had bumped into Johnson’s left shoulder, but Johnson still completed his play with his left hand.
The 23-year-old finished with 11 points, on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor.
Highlight Play: The Hawks looked like a team that added several new faces. But when things worked, they really worked.
They found the most success when they could push the ball out in transition and capitalize on their numbers on the fast break. That’s a key tenet of the Hawks’ plan for success this season.
It worked on Johnson’s play from earlier in the first quarter. It worked again early in the second when Daniels disrupted Thompson’s dribble on the elbow.
Johnson recovered the ball, and the Hawks pushed the ball up, where they could take advantage of the four-on-two. Young found Kennard on the wing for a 3.
Up Next: The Hawks play the Grizzlies on Saturday in Memphis. With four days until the next game, the Hawks have plenty of time to adjust and work through some of the miscues from Monday’s game.
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