The Hawks’ exhibition season is well underway, and like many of the team’s young players, Trent Forrest looks to take advantage of the extended minutes.
In the exhibition games, the Hawks want the chance to evaluate not only lineup combinations but their players individually. On Tuesday, after the Hawks shut down most of their starters after the first half, Forrest heard his number called.
The Cavaliers also had shut down their starters for the night, but their young group heated up on long-range shots. They made eight 3-pointers in the second half after making only five in the first. That helped them erase the Hawks’ 12-point lead at halftime and build their own 11-point lead early in the fourth quarter.
But Forrest leaned on some of his experience of playing for Hawks coach Quin Snyder when they both called Utah home.
He attacked and ran the floor after the team got stops to get to the basket before the Cavs defense got set.
Forrest played methodically as he helped lead the Hawks’ comeback. He did most of his damage in the final three minutes of action. With 3:22 in the game, he snaked his way through Cavs defenders before putting a floater up, cutting the Hawks deficit to 100-96.
His kept up the aggression, drawing a foul and making two free throws to keep it a two-possession game. After rookie Seth Lundy made a cutting layup, Forrest found the rookie in the corner for a 3 to bring the Hawks within 104-103 with 30 seconds left.
When Lundy fought over a screen and drew an offensive foul, Forrest took advantage of the stop. He dribbled into the paint before making a turnaround jumper to get the shot over his defender to give the Hawks their first lead 5:37 in the third quarter.
“We were just able to get a few stops there at the end,” Forrest said. “They did hit a lot of 3′s in a short amount of time. But we were able to get stops and me, and Seth just kept being aggressive.”
Forrest would deliver the Hawks their 108-107 win, completing a three-point play after banking in a driving layup and drawing a foul with 1.6 seconds left. He would then break up an inbound layup, dashing the Cavs’ attempt to take the game.
“Fun to see some of our young guys down the stretch that have been working in training camp and don’t get as many reps really compete down the stretch,” Snyder said after the game. “Trent (Forrest) made a lot of plays. On the whole, I think we expected to have some good moments. And also that’s why you play right now have a chance to get the film and work and get better.”
The Hawks signed Forrest, who scored 13 points on 5-of-6 overall shooting, to a two-way deal in September after they extended a two-way qualifying offer in June. This is the second year that Forrest has been with the Hawks on a two-way deal.
The team runs pretty deep at point guard position with Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, as well as veteran guard Patty Mills and rookie Kobe Bufkin. Last week, Hawks general manager Landry Fields, pointed to Forrest as a likely candidate for the team’s third point guard position.
When it was Forrest making the plays Tuesday, everyone was there to celebrate with him.
“It was good,” Forrest said. “It just shows the type of team that we have. We’re all close from top to bottom, I feel like, and we’re all happy for each other. So, I feel like that’s something that’s been big for us this offseason and even coming into the season.”
As the team continues through training camp and exhibition play, they will continue to look for areas where they can grow stronger.
Snyder has talked extensively about the team’s spacing and building good habits that will lead to consistency. The other priority has been finding ways to improve the team’s defense.
Forrest echoed that Tuesday after the team gave up the 12-point lead they had at the half. But when they regained that defensive rhythm, they capitalized on it.
“Definitely our defense just as a whole, our team defense,” he said. “It was a big emphasis for us this training camp, and I feel like a lot of us are buying into, and I feel like tonight we saw that our defense can be pretty good when we all lock into it, and I definitely feel like this was a right step in the right direction for us to kind of start off the year.”
