Hawks move to eighth in the East after downing Nets

Thursday’s outing against the Nets proved messy. But the Hawks cleaned things up just enough to down the Nets 108-97 at State Farm Arena.

The Hawks (35-31) have now won eight consecutive games to move into eighth place in the Eastern Conference standings.

The eight-game win streak is a season-best for the Hawks and continues the NBA’s longest active winning streak. Per Hawks PR, it’s also the Hawks’ longest winning streak since the 2020-21 season (March 2-20, 2021, also eight straight wins).

Quick stats: Jalen Johnson had 21 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. Zaccharie Risacher had 19 points and nine rebounds off the bench. Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 18 points, Onyeka Okongwu had 13 points and nine rebounds, while CJ McCollum chipped in 14 points.

Key moment

The Nets torched the Hawks in the second and third quarters. The Hawks allowed the Nets to shoot 21-of-40 between the two frames.

But the Hawks made an adjustment with 9.7 seconds to play in the third quarter. They subbed in big Mouhamed Gueye for the team’s backup center minutes, subbing out center Jock Landale.

Gueye injected energy into the lineup, giving the Hawks four points, and two steals in four minutes. It turned the tide after the Nets had taken an 83-82 lead with 10:53 to play in the game.

Highlight play

Risacher had a big night for the Hawks, scoring 12 points in his first 11 minutes of action. Though he shot the ball well from the perimeter early, he didn’t shy away from attacking the rim.

What they said

“... I know we got stops when we needed to. We were able to convert more on the other end and had a few guys make some shots. Jalen and I’ve talked about this catch-and-shoot 3 for a while now, people are giving him a little bit of space, and he’s ready to make a decision. He hit some big ones for us. As I said, the biggest thing is, if you can play defense during crunch time, it’s a big deal.” - Hawks coach Quin Snyder on the final five minutes of the game.

“Better execution offensively, of course. Throughout that course, we just continue to get stops. Kind of was able to get out and run as well. I think our pace died a little bit, which allowed them to get back in the game. But starting with the defensive end, as it’s been throughout this whole I guess, run for us, the rest kind of followed.” - Alexander-Walker on what worked in the final five minutes.