Hawks best beleaguered Pacers in first night of NBA Cup play

INDIANAPOLIS — The Hawks opened group play of the NBA Cup on the right side of the win-loss column Friday.

After falling behind 20-8 to the short-handed Pacers in the first quarter, the Hawks began to drive to the basket and attack the rim. Despite not having guard Trae Young, the Hawks made quick and decisive moves to generate offense.

The team needed to rack up as many points as possible on Friday night. As they progress through group play of the NBA Cup, the point differential between teams could become a tiebreaker.

“The whole point and spread situation is just, I don’t like it,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said in an opening statement after the game. “I don’t have an answer for it. But Rick (Carlisle) is one of the guys that I have so much respect for in the league. (I) consider him a mentor.

“And, I was wanting to hold the ball. And our bench is yelling to try to score. If you imagine a situation where you don’t make the (NBA Cup knockout round) by a point, you know, that’s on me. But it really, especially just this is a unique profession.

As far as you know coaching goes, it’s obviously unique in a lot of ways, but specific to this, and it really puts you in a difficult position, even if you know the situation, just you know whether you want to call it sportsmanship or not. And I understand it on some level, because it happens in Europe, not just in Europe, a lot of places, international competition, but it just doesn’t feel right."

The Hawks won 128-108.

Quick stats: Jalen Johnson had 22 points, 13 rebounds, eight assists, two steals and one block. Nickeil Alexander-Walker finished with 21 points, three rebounds, three assists and two steals. Dyson Daniels had a potential breakthrough game, with 18 points, nine rebounds, six assists and three steals.

Key moment

When the Hawks acquired Alexander-Walker during the offseason, they added another elite stopper to their ranks.

This season, Daniels and Alexander-Walker have given ballhandlers on the perimeter trouble. But in the second quarter Friday, the defensive tandem forced Pacers forward Pascal Siakam into a pickle. Alexander-Walker applied pressure to Siakam, and the Pacers forward lost control of the ball.

Daniels dove to the floor and hustled for the loose ball, but Siakam beat him to it.

Alexander-Walker never gave up on the stop and moved up to cover Siakam’s view.

When Siakam tried to pass out of the trap, Alexander-Walker grabbed the errant pass and tried to find Johnson for a transition layup. The ball rolled off the rim, but Luke Kennard grabbed the offensive board for a second-chance layup.

Highlight play

Alexander-Walker has brought a lot of energy to the Hawks. Whether he comes off the bench or starts the game, the Hawks guard has injected much-needed juice into the lineup.

With 6:57 to play in the third quarter, Alexander-Walker dribbled from the wing and split a pair of defenders before slamming down a one-handed dunk.