Trae Young poured in 43 points and Clint Capela recorded a triple-double in the Hawks’ 116-98 win in Minnesota Friday.
Next up, the Hawks (8-7) play in Milwaukee Sunday.
Below are some takeaways from the win:
1. In less than 12 minutes of playing time, Capela had already tied his career-high in blocks with six. Capela, who has been unstoppable lately, eventually got to 10 blocks and recorded his first triple-double, adding 13 points and 19 rebounds. The Timberwolves (3-11) couldn’t do anything to stop him or evade him on defense. Capela became the third Hawk to block 10 shots in a game, joining Dikembe Mutombo and Josh Smith. In the win vs. Detroit Wednesday, Capela recorded a career-high 26 rebounds. “Obviously Clint, he’s turning himself into a different force defensively, and on the glass,” Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce said. “To back up what he did the other night with what he did tonight, with the 10 blocks and the triple-double, is amazing.”
2. Young was red-hot in Friday’s win, adding 43 points in 31 minutes and tying a career-high in 3-pointers with eight. He went 14-for-22 from the field (63.6%), 8-for-12 from 3-point range (66.7%) and 7-for-7 from the free-throw line, adding five assists and four rebounds, with seven turnovers. For a few games now, he’s looked back to his old self shooting the ball, after largely struggling from the field, particularly from 3-point range, when the Hawks went 1-6 from Jan. 2-16. “I’ve worked too hard to let a couple games of me not shooting well affect me,” Young said. “I’ve put in the work and I know it’s going to pay off eventually. So for me, while everybody was worried, or even if they weren’t, for me, I’m never worried about my game, because I know the work I put in.”
3. For the first time in a long time, the Hawks had a pretty healthy roster to deploy, with Danilo Gallinari (right ankle sprain), De’Andre Hunter (right knee soreness) and Cam Reddish (left knee contusion) all available to play Friday. Bogdan Bogdanovic (avulsion fracture, right knee) and Kris Dunn (right ankle surgery) are still out, but having Gallinari, Hunter and Reddish available fortifies them on both sides of the ball. Gallinari added 10 points and four rebounds, Hunter had 11 points and four steals and Reddish contributed 15 points and five rebounds.
4. In the second quarter, the Hawks dominated the Timberwolves, who looked completely out-of-sync, to take a 62-43 lead at halftime. In the first half, the Hawks shot 50% from the field (46.2% from 3) to the Timberwolves’ 35.6% (26.7% from 3) to build up a big lead. The Wolves never got within 13 points in the second half and weren’t really competitive, even when the Hawks pulled their starters throughout the fourth quarter.
5. The Hawks have won three straight games after losing six of seven, and are shooting the ball better after a rough stretch during that slump. Largely because of Young’s stellar numbers from 3-point range, the Hawks shot 42.9% from 3 (15-35) in Friday’s win, and they’ve shot 40.4% from 3, on average, over the past three games.
Stat of the game
55-40 (the margin of which the Hawks out-rebounded the Timberwolves)
Star of the game
Capela (recorded a rare triple-double involving blocks)
Quotable
“It happened pretty fast, so I was like ‘Hey, why not, just keep doing what you do.’” (Capela on if he thought he could get to 10 blocks, after recording four in the first quarter)
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