The Hawks could not close out a hastily scheduled regular-season game against the Nets on Wednesday. They fell 114-113 at State Farm Arena.
Here are five observations:
1. Trae Young’s 3 off a sideline out-of-bounds pass from Dejounte Murray gave the Hawks a 113-112 lead with 16.5 left in the game. But the Hawks failed to stop the Nets’ Mikal Bridges on the other end and he buried a midrange jumper on the elbow to put the Nets up with 4.5 seconds left.
After a timeout, Young became the in-bounder, passing the ball to Saddiq Bey, who quickly handed it back to him. Young, who scored 30 points and had nine assists and two blocks, looked to drive and put up the shot, falling to the side in hopes of drawing the foul. But Young’s shot did not fall and the referees did not whistle a foul.
The Hawks put up one of their best defensive nights despite the loss. But the Hawks could not make a stop when they needed it.
“We got back better, communicated in pick-and-roll better, we got late switches when we need to, shifts were better. I thought we did a much better job staying in front of the ball,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “A lot of little things.”
2. The Hawks have found themselves in many a clutch game so far this season. Heading into the night, the Hawks went 4-6 in clutch games, which is a game within five points in the final five minutes.
The Hawks led the Nets 101-100 with just under five minutes to play before Spencer Dinwiddie drove into the paint on De’Andre Hunter and put up a shot high off the glass before the buzzer sound.
Dinwiddie had just two points heading into the final five minutes, going 1-of-10 overall in the first three quarters. He dropped 11 points in the fourth, making some tough shots and he ended the night with 13 points.
3. The Hawks held the the Nets to 81 points through the first three quarters, one of the lowest totals they’ve allowed in a game.
Part of what worked for the Hawks when they faced the Nets two weeks ago was taking the 3-point line away from the Nets. They struggled to do so early Wednesday with the Nets going 7-of-10 from 3 in the first 13 minutes of action. But the Hawks held the Nets to 4-of-17 the rest of the way.
“We knew coming in that they like to shoot 3s and we knew we needed to take those away and they obviously got going early on and it was a fight,” Young said. “But I think we played really good defense and not letting them score too many twos early on and then taking away the 3 allowed us to get out in transition when we got stops and things like that.”
4. With the absence of the injured Jalen Johnson, the Hawks’ second unit has taken the biggest hit when it comes to its offensive production. In cases where Bey would start, the Hawks have plugged in Johnson off the bench.
But the Hawks have started Johnson for the majority of games leading up to his injury. So, with no Johnson to plug into the bench, the Hawks’ second unit has dropped from averaging close to 40 points per game. Now with Bey, who scored 21 points and seven rebounds on Wednesday, in the starting unit, the Hawks average just 27 points per game from the bench.
Bogdan Bogdanovic, however, continues to play efficiently. He scored 20 points and had four rebounds.
5. The Hawks had a near-perfect night at the free-throw line, going 17-for-18. The last time the Hawks played the Nets, they couldn’t hit some of their free throws down the stretch.
This season, the Hawks rank fifth in the NBA in free-throw shooting percentage. But in clutch moments, the Hawks rank 14th.
Stat to know
43 -- Wednesday’s game had 43 lead changes, the most in a game since it began being tracked in the 1996-97 season, according to Elias Sports Bureau and Nets PR.
Quotable
“It’s like every possession has got to matter and gotta mean something to you. So I feel like we’ll get to that point and we’ll learn from it and get better from it.” -- Trae Young on what it will take for the Hawks to have consistent defense.
Up next
The Hawks head to Philadelphia to take on the 76ers on Friday.
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