The Hawks looked to keep the Magic in front of them on Friday night as they tried to combat their size, length and physicality.
The Hawks managed to find their footing after a slow start and downed the Magic 108-98 at State Farm Arena.
Here are five observations.
1. The Hawks struggled early, forcing coach Nate McMillan to find the right matchups throughout the first quarter.
The Magic held the Hawks to 7-of-21 overall shooting and forced them into settling for shots.
“Well, I thought early, that first half, we were settling for a lot of contested jump shots,” McMillan said. “And we didn’t really have the ball movement that we were looking for. And when you are settling, they did a good job of keeping us in front. And you know, we were taking tough contested shots.”
2. The second unit has stabilized the Hawks when things go awry in the team’s first two games of the season. Filled out with Dejounte Murray, Aaron and Justin Holiday, Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu, the Hawks have been able to climb out of deep holes with that unit’s experience.
The Magic led by as many as 13 points in the first quarter but the Hawks’ fortunes turned around in the second quarter. The Hawks outscored the Magic 31-27 in the second frame, using their ball movement to find the right spots.
They shot 48% from the floor and began to find their shots from deep to carve into the Magic’s lead.
It was the second unit that helped the Hawks finally climb over the hump and take the team’s first lead since the first quarter.
“It’s a whole cohesive unit,” John Collins said. “JJ (Jalen Johnson) has got a little pop of athleticism, the Holiday brothers, Aaron and Jus, they bring a lot of spark -- Justin with his 3-point shot, Aaron can do a bit of everything. He likes picking up full (court), playing defense and we love that. O (Okongwu) has taken another step as we like. But, everybody is doing well, I feel like. Coach is figuring out the lineup, staggering everybody the right way or I feel like we’re just trying to find the flow and that’s how we win.”
3. Speaking of Collins, the veteran forward has found ways to exploit opponent’s turning their attention to Murray and Trae Young. Collins crossed the 20-point threshold for the second game in a row, scoring a 23 points. Collins made nine of his 14 shot attempts from the floor and shot 3-of-4 from 3-point range.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
On top of giving the Hawks an offensive jolt, he gave them plenty of helping on the glass. He had a game-high13 rebounds, as he went on to pick up his first double-double of the season. Collins also had three steals, helping the Hawks to force 19 Magic turnovers.
“Great group job,” Collins said. “DJ (Murray), C (Clint Capela), O (Okongwu), as well as myself really got in there on the boards. Coach tells me all the time, he wants me to be a double-double guy. So, not an easy thing. Obviously, after that, you know, I have the ability to do so and (have) done so. He just wanted to see me do it again, do it more every night. So trying to step up to the challenge a little bit and do what I can.”
4. After opening the season shooting under 30% from 3-point range, the Hawks found their legs.
The Hawks shot nearly 42% from long range, going 13-of-31.
Young, Collins and Justin Holiday did much of the heavy lifting, combining for 10 of the team’s made shots from 3-point range. The Hawks finding a rhythm on both ends of the floor helped them to finally put the Magic away.
The Hawks sank nine 3-pointers in the second half as Young found his offensive flow in the third quarter. They then launched an air raid in the final quarter, knocking down six shots from deep.
Young finished with 25 points.
“I was focused on my shot, focused on bending my knees and looking at the rim and taking my time,” Young said. “I felt like I was rushing it a little bit. Getting my shot off because they had a lot of length and I really had to take my time. So just slowed it down, I watched a couple of clips on my misses in the first half. And I mean, I’m not going to miss that many shots too many times. So I’m just going to keep shooting it like I did that third quarter and if I can knock a couple of them down, I can get into a rhythm.”
5. The Hawks will look to tidy up their ball movement after committing 17 turnovers, leading to 11 Orlando points. Murray had seven of the turnovers and Young had six.
Stat to know
Friday marked the fourth time in Collins’ career he’s had at least 20 points, 10 boards and three steals, and also marked his 54th 20-point, 10-rebound game of his career, the most in the 2017 NBA Draft class.
Quotable
“It’s great. I mean, what he brings, what he’s been bringing in since preseason and training camp, you can tell like he’s added a couple of things. But he’s just gotten so much better at what he’s already great at.” -- Trae Young on De’Andre Hunter’s eight early points.
Up next
The Hawks host the Hornets Sunday for the final game of the three-game homestand before heading on the road for the next five games.
