Hawks reach 40 wins in blowout over Grizzlies

The Hawks have won 40 games after downing the Grizzlies 146-107 on Monday night.

It’s the first time since the shortened 2020-21 season that the Hawks (40-32) won 40 games before the final 10 games of the year. The Hawks went to the Eastern Conference Finals that season.

Quick stats: Nickeil Alexander-Walker led the team with 26 points and six assists. Onyeka Okongwu had 16 points and five rebounds, with CJ McCollum adding 15 points and nine assists.

Four different players from the bench scored in double figures.

Key moment

The Hawks took care of business early. Because of that, time opened up less than four minutes into the fourth quarter for the end of the bench to get some play.

The reserves didn’t let up and kept running up the score. They protected the Hawks’ 40-point lead for much of their time on the court.

Hawks guard Keaton Wallace hit a 3 with 5:12 left in the game that kicked off the reserves’ push to keep the Hawks at their largest win of the season.

Highlight play

Late in the first quarter, Alexander-Walker put Dejon Jarreau on a poster that sent the fans in State Farm Arena out of their seats. And his reaction to the poster rivaled that of any WWE superstar on Monday Night Raw.

With 43 seconds to play in the first quarter, three Grizzlies defenders trapped Hawks forward Jonathan Kuminga. He quickly passed out to Alexander-Walker, who drove to the basket before launching from the elbow. Jarreau went up to contest the dunk, but Alexander-Walker whipped the ball past his outstretched arm.

Then Alexander-Walker drew the foul while falling out of bounds. As he rolled to a sitting position, he looked around in disbelief.

What they said

“I thought CJ set the tone early. He was just in the lane and had his eyes out, finding people, and then Nickeil had a stretch at the beginning of the third quarter, where just those guys playing that way, it raises everybody’s level. It sets a tone.” -- Hawks coach Quin Snyder on the Hawks’ unselfish play getting them 37 assists.

“I’m actually glad I dunked that. Some of the guys in there swear that I don’t dunk anymore. Sometimes I turn back the hands of time. And Nickeil, him too. He don’t dunk a lot. So, it’s good to see that.” -- Okongwu on his dunk in the third quarter.

“Paint touches are important to the team. Just transition play. From when I got the ball, I could see the defender was timing me. So I knew I had to go aggressively. If I tried to lay it up, he probably would have, I think, like, the more aggressive guy wins in that situation.” -- Alexander-Walker on his dunk in the first quarter.

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