OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Hawks have made the commitment of playing together and for each other. Their early 4-2 record reflects they want to win together and for each other.
The Hawks have mounted comebacks in each of their last three games and they’ve done so with everyone even when they’re dealing with bumps and bruises.
Early in the team’s win over the Pelicans on Saturday, forward De’Andre Hunter left the game after dislocating his right pinky finger. With 6:52 in the first quarter, Hunter posted up Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram on the elbow before turning to drive to the basket. Then Pelicans guard CJ McCollum slid over to help Ingram and as Hunter dribbled through traffic, McCollum ripped the ball away and got a piece of his finger.
Hunter immediately grabbed his hand as he ran back with the rest of the team in transition before pulling up at half court and doubling over. He signaled for a sub and immediately went to the locker room after exiting the game.
“I mean, yeah, it was just hurting,” Hunter said. “Anybody who ever dislocated a finger (knows that). I did it before so, I kind of knew that it was dislocated. But yeah, it’s just painful. You go to the back they pull it out, fix it and yeah.”
Hunter emerged from the locker room 19 minutes later with tape wrapped around his ring and index finger and took his place in the rotation with 8:42 remaining in the second quarter.
The 24-year-old didn’t need to much time to get his rhythm back on the defensive end. He moved everywhere and honed in on helping the team to limit the Pelicans’ big three in Ingram, McCollum and Zion Williamson.
His defensive presence drew plenty of praise from Hawks coach Quin Snyder, who said after the game to put it on the front page. Snyder added that Hunter’s defense gave the team a lift, particularly in the second half. Ingram, averaging 22.5 points prior to Saturday’s game, had nine points in the first half and only seven in the second half.
“D. Hunt, he’s a soldier,” Hawks center Onyeka Okongwu said Saturday. “He’s tough, tough as nails. So, for him to come out there and ball and play defense how he did, man, it was a lot for us as a team.”
For Hunter, leaving the game just wasn’t an option saying that the only thing to hold him back was an inability to run or jump.
“If I can run, jump, catch the ball, I could do all that stuff, I’m gonna play,” said Hunter, who’s averaging 15.7 points per game. “So, that’s just how I was raised, how I came up. It’s just toughing it.”
Through the team’s first six games, they’ve shown a knack for launching comebacks in the second half. Of course, they don’t want to have to fight from behind but they’ve committed to playing for each other. So, gritting out games until the end helps them to fulfill that.
“It shows how closer and together we are,” he said. “I think since I’ve been here, this is probably the most together, a team has been that I’ve been on. So, we’re going to battle for each other. Whether I go down, someone’s gonna step up. Whether I come back or not, we’re gonna play. So you, I appreciate those guys for letting me come back in there and do what I could do.”
For Hunter, that meant giving him a little time to adjust with playing with the splint on his shooting hand. He made just three field goal attempts on Saturday, rarely played with the ball in his hands. But when the ball found him on the wing for a 3 with 4:59 in the third quarter, he did what he could do.
“Yeah, I mean, I didn’t know how it was gonna feel because in the back (in the first quarter) all I did was like grab a basketball,” said Hunter, who shooting 54 percent from the field and 41 percent from three-point territory. “So, I didn’t dribble or shoot anything like that. But if you watch the film back, I wasn’t dribbling too much, I wasn’t doing too much. But now that I’m comfortable, I could do it a lot more. But, when I shot (the ball) I was just hoping to hit the rim honestly. And when it went in I’m like ‘alright, bet.’”
The Hawks face the Thunder on Monday in the second game of their six-day, three-game road trip. At the team’s shootaround ahead of the night’s contest, Hunter spent extra time working on hitting shots from 3 and talking with trainers on making the splint he will wear more comfortable.
But he’ll also be ready to make more contributions on the defensive end like he did on Saturday. The Hawks will, of course, look to get off on the right foot but they know that they’re in this together and can fight back if they need to.
“I mean, it’ll be better if we weren’t behind in the first half but I think, like I said, it just shows that togetherness,” Hunter said. “You’re not coming back if you’re not together as a team. We got to come together on defense and offense to complete a comeback. So, I think that is preaches that and what coach just tells us and all those things like that.”
