Hawks late-game defense stings Hornets in second of back-to-back games

Home court hasn’t proved to be much of an advantage for the Hawks so far this season. But on Sunday evening, the Hawks gave the fans filling State Farm Arena enough energy to earn the advantage.

In just their third home victory so far this season, the Hawks downed the Hornets, 113-110. The Hawks move to 11-7 this season.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker had an epic strip of Hornets’ Kon Knueppel under the basket before earning a pair of free throws after securing the loose ball.

Alexander-Walker split his free throws, and the Hawks had the right defensive pressure to force an air ball from Hornets forward Miles Bridges at the buzzer.

Quick stats: Hawks forward Jalen Johnson finished with 28 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists. Onyeka Okongwu had 20 points and seven rebounds. Dyson Daniels finished with a season-high 22 points, nine rebounds and six assists.

Turning point

The Hawks had a 10-point lead with just over seven minutes to play in the game. But they couldn’t stop Knueppel on the perimeter and they couldn’t stop fouling. They spotted the Hornets a 10-2 run with 3:44 to play in the game before Johnson scored a turnaround midrange jumper and Alexander-Walker made a driving layup to put the Hawks up 111-110.

They held off a driving layup attempt from Knueppel with 32 seconds to play in the game, and stifled a tip-in attempt from Moussa Diabate three seconds later. Vit Krejci grabbed the defensive board, but the Hornets swarmed him, forcing a jump ball.

But Krejci retained possession for the Hawks, winning the jump ball.

Highlight Play

The Hawks needed a bit of energy as they continued to fight through the Hornets’ onslaught of scoring. Johnson had already powered the Hawks through the third quarter. But the Hawks gave the fans a burst of energy off a transition dunk from Keaton Wallace.

With 2:21 to play, Wallace picked off Miles Bridges and raced down court. He gathered his dribble just past halfcourt and took the ball into the paint. He went up and dunked the ball with hand sending the Hawks bench and fans in the arena to their feet.

Up next

The Hawks head on the road to Washington to face the Wizards on Tuesday for the third game of group play of the NBA Cup. The Hawks currently rank sixth in East: Group A after splitting their first two Cup games against the Pacers and Raptors.