The Hawks took another game to the wire before defeating the Grizzlies 103-102 on Thursday night at State Farm Arena.
Here are five observations.
1. Hawks forwards Saddiq Bey, Onyeka Okongwu and De’Andre Hunter missed Thursday’s game. Hawks coach Quin Snyder said that Hunter, who also missed Tuesday’s exhibition game, has been dealing with a minor bone bruise in his right knee and that the injury was not an issue.
Snyder did not indicate whether Hunter would suit up for any the remaining exhibition games. He did say that with the team in the preseason, it wanted to err on the side of caution.
“Anytime you get into a preseason situation, you know, there’s just no reason, you know, to push guys in any situation,” Snyder said before the game. “Onyeka, Saddiq, all those guys, they’ve practiced, you know, it just doesn’t make sense. You know, those are smart decisions.”
Bogdan Bogdanovic returned to the lineup and started.
2. The Hawks zipped the ball around the floor, settling into their offense a little quicker than they did Tuesday.
With Snyder putting an emphasis on unselfishness and spacing, the Hawks found high percentage plays.
Led by guard Trae Young, the Hawks were 9-of-19 from 3-point range by the end of the first half. They shot a 50% overall and 47.1% from 3.
Young was 4-of-6 from deep, as he scored 20 points. Thirteen of Young’s points came in the second quarter, as the Hawks found him for a couple of transition 3-point shots.
3. Snyder talked lengthily about the Hawks needing to play better transition defense following Tuesday’s game against the Cavaliers. He pointed to it again before Thursday’s game against the Grizzlies.
The Hawks anticipated the moves of the Grizzlies and didn’t shy away from getting into their bodies to disrupt dribbles and force errant passes.
With 9:20 left in the second quarter, Bogdanovic raced down court and stopped a Grizzlies attempt. He quickly pushed it back into Hawks territory to Young for a 3.
Just under three minutes later, Hawks rookie guard Kobe Bufkin forced the player he was covering to rush his shot. The ball hit the backboard, and veteran guard Dejounte Murray took it down court before finding Jalen Johnson at the top of the key, and Johnson made a 3.
The Hawks ended up scoring 21 points off of the Grizzlies’ 23 turnovers.
4. Much like his stint at Summer League in July, Bufkin again made noticeable adjustments between the first and second exhibition matchups.
The rookie let the game come to him as he continued to find ways to generate scoring. He followed up his exhibition debut with 12 points on 5-of-14 shooting from the floor.
Bufkin made some big contributions on defense, pulling down six rebounds, and he made the Grizzlies work for their shots or forced them to make extra passes as he stuck with them on each possession.
5. With the Hawks shutting down their starters and key rotational players after the first half, it opened plenty of minutes for the guys toward the end of the bench. Like Tuesday night, they continued to take advantage of their playing time.
The reserves strung along plenty of stops in the second half, going on a 14-6 run to get out to a 14-point lead with 5:31 remaining in the third quarter. They held the double-digit lead for much of the second half, before the Grizzlies carved into it, scoring buckets off of the Hawks’ miscues.
But the Hawks never settled.
Much like Tuesday, rookie wing Seth Lundy made clutch plays to help seal the Hawks’ win. He knocked down a 3 to give the Hawks a 101-99 lead with 1:10 left. After the Grizzlies’ G.G. Jackson made a 3, Hawks forward Miles Norris made a driving layup to give the Hawks the lead for the last time.
They would make big defensive plays, with Lundy sealing the team’s win with a clutch block leaving 1.1 seconds on the clock.
“We got some dogs, and you see it was Seth making big plays and then Trent last game coming up, big down the stretch,” Johnson said postgame. “You got a lot of guys that can play, and that’s what makes the practices that much more intense. And I think that pushes everybody during those practices.”
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