The Hawks again couldn’t slow the Pacers’ offensive motor Friday. Even without Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton in the lineup, the Hawks lost 126-108.
Eight Pacers finished in double-figures scoring, and the team had 41 total assists, plus the Hawks allowed the Pacers to shoot 67% from the field. Hawks coach Quin Snyder cited his team’s inability to protect the rim, giving up 76 points in the paint, as the main reason behind the sore thumb in the stat sheet.
“The most glaring thing was just the amount of points we gave up in the paint,” Snyder said. “That’s why the field-goal percentage is what it is because those are shots that they’re going to make.”
After losing to the Pacers the previous Friday 150-116, Snyder emphasized how the Hawks gave up “too many easy baskets,” against a team that’s bread-and-butter is scoring in transition. The Pacers led the NBA in transition points and averaged 17.8 fast-break points heading into Friday’s game.
The Hawks, however, have struggled to stop teams in transition this season. They average the third-most fast-break points per game, giving up on average 16.6 per contest.
On Friday, they allowed 25 fast-break points.
“Ironically, like at halftime, we’d only given up (13) points in transition,” Snyder said. “We’ve talked so much about transition defense against this team and really throughout the course of the season, and we did a better job getting back. I think it’s difficult when we missed some easy opportunities early … and then we had some turnovers. It’s hard to defend against those. But there weren’t pass-aheads, they were in more of a half-court game. But, again, we didn’t do a good job keeping the ball out of the paint.”
It was the second time in seven games that the Hawks allowed 76 points in the paint. Two weeks ago, they gave up 76 in their loss to the Grizzlies on Dec. 23.
The Hawks have not fared well in protecting the paint, averaging 56.3 points there per game. This played a part in the Pacers shooting 84% from the field in the first quarter.
The Pacers took advantage of early miscues to score at will in the paint. With 10:38 to play in the second quarter, Pacers point guard T.J. McConnell intercepted Bogdan Bogdanovic’s pass to Trae Young off the inbound, then dished it to a cutting power forward Obi Toppin for an and-one slam — a part of a 29-8 run and upping the score to 43-30.
Rather than blaming the lack of paint protection to his big men, Snyder described it as a team effort that needed to improve.
“That’s not Clint (Capela), that’s us collectively. Frankly, he bailed us out at times,” Snyder said. “It’s not just the guy on the ball that’s got to be better, it’s the other guys that have to have an awareness to take up space and make them see bodies and not see those driving lanes.”
The Hawks showed flashes of potential on defense in the second quarter’s closing minutes, trailing by only six points at halftime. But the Pacers quickly doused the fire in the third quarter.
The Pacers quickly opened the second half on a 10-6 run. Though the Hawks tried to tread water, they could not string together enough stops. When they did, they struggled to capitalize on them.
With 1:43 to play in the third, Hawks small forward Jalen Johnson forced McConnell to travel. It presented a premiere opportunity for the Hawks to find some defensive rhythm. Instead, Pacers center Isaiah Jackson picked off Young’s pass to Onyeka Okongwu before leading a three-on-one fastbreak dunk.
In their three matchups against the Pacers this season, the Hawks have allowed them to shoot a combined 63.8% from the floor and 52.7% on 3-point shots.
The Hawks face the Wizards on Saturday, and Johnson views it as an opportunity to bounce back as a team and individually on the defensive end.
“We all got to up our games a little bit (and) step it up especially defensively,” Johnson said. “Individual effort on defense. We got to know what we’re doing, know rotations … if we just do that it’s going to be much easier for us.”
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