The good, bad and the ugly: Hawks have to find energy sooner
The Hawks had the chance to get back in the win column Monday. But the Hawks couldn’t complete a rally to down the Bucks and lost 112-110 in a game that went down to the buzzer.
It begins the tightening of pressure on the Hawks, whose record fell to 20-25 and dropped them that much closer to fighting for a spot in the Play-In tournament.
After losing to the Bucks, the Hawks have a hold on the 10th spot in the Eastern Conference by only a half-game. The Bucks currently rank 11th.
Here’s the good, the bad and the ugly from Monday’s loss.
The good
After a blowout loss to the Celtics on Saturday, the Hawks showed more fight to almost complete a 23-point rally. The Hawks had more energy, and after shooting poorly in the first half, they hit some much-needed shots.
But what allowed them to come back into the game was the energy and focus they had defensively. They held the Bucks to nine field goals in the third quarter, though those came from the perimeter.
They capped off their defensive possessions with better rebounding.
“One thing that I did learn and could feel was, despite the shots going in or going out, or whatever the game was really giving us, our energy and mentality towards it will change everything,” Hawks guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker said. “And I feel like the game follows the energy, and our energy change — our, I want to say, spirit, to a degree — kind of you can feel it more in the second half than the first half.”
The bad
The Hawks have struggled with rebounding this season, ranking among the bottom 10 teams in the NBA. But the Hawks didn’t shy away from the glass.
They outrebounded the Bucks 51-47, especially on the offensive glass (14-4). But the Hawks missed a ton of shots, forcing them to be active on the glass.
The Hawks shot 1-of-22 (5%) on 3-point shots in the first half and went 15-of-51 (29%) on all their first-half shots.
The ugly
The Hawks have two players ranked among the top 20 in the NBA in 3-point shooting percentage and at least four players shooting above the NBA average of 35.9%.
But in the first half Monday, the Hawks looked like a team that didn’t know how to make a 3-pointer.
The Hawks went over 20 minutes of game time without making a 3, missing their first 21 tries. They did not make a 3-point shot until 27.2 seconds remained in the first half, when guard CJ McCollum knocked down one from the right wing.
“We have better shooters than that, but we were getting great looks,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said.
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