The Hornets reminded the Hawks on Sunday that they must play 48 minutes of basketball with urgency.
After losing to the Hornets 126-109, Hawks coach Nate McMillan emphasized the need for his team to be scrappy. On Sunday, the Hawks allowed the Hornets to outscore them in the second and third quarters. The team’s lack of focus and lackadaisical approach on defense led to the Hornets scoring 62 points in the paint and 33 points from 3-point range.
On top of that, the Hawks struggled to find the right sparks to get their offense going, as the Hornets smothered any brewing fires from long range. While the Hawks tried to attack the basket, it wasn’t enough to keep pace with the Hornets’ 3-point firepower.
While lulls on offense can be expected throughout the season, McMillan expects his team to play consistent defense.
“It’s just understanding that you’re going to have nights like that,” McMillan said. “But, the one thing that we expect to be consistent in is our defense. And making sure that we do the things that we have conditioned to do, which is keep that ball out of the paint – we had 61 points – help defense, finishing the play with the rebound and then offensively, establishing the tempo.”
On Wednesday and Friday, the Hawks will face another scrappy team in the Pistons. Though the Pistons have not had the hottest of starts to their season, they will bring plenty of competition this week.
The Pistons also have given the Hawks plenty of trouble in their past two meetings. The Hawks lost to the Pistons in overtime 113-110 on March 7 and 122-101 two weeks later.
So, McMillan has challenged his team to play 48 minutes of scrappy basketball.
“(We) make the adjustments, if you’re in practice, with understanding the urgency that you have to play with on both ends of the floor,” McMillan said. “You know, we’re not going to be the biggest team, probably not going to be the fastest team, but we can be the team that scrapped the hardest.”
The Hawks also will look to make scrappiness a part of their identity this season. Part of that includes someone stepping up to help rein in the team when the players start to disconnect on the court.
McMillan said he still is looking for someone on the team to emerge as that type of leader.
“(I) gotta find that guy,” McMillan said. “You know, and that’s part of this group playing together and, you know, being in situations like that, where that guy, that voice comes out and talk about what we need to do out on the floor.”
Injury note
Hawks wing Bogdan Bogdanovic could completely miss the Hawks’ first trip of the season. Bogdanovic remains limited to shooting and light drills.
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