The Hawks have struggled to hold leads this season.
While no lead is safe in the NBA, the Hawks have held leads of 10 points or more in 22 of their 33 games played, losing nine of the 22. Among the 22 double-digit leads, they have held leads of 20 or more in seven games. Unfortunately, for the Hawks, they tend to let the rope go a little too soon, and their opponents take advantage.
On Wednesday, the Hawks led the Thunder 76-59 at halftime but won 141-138. They led by 15 points with 2:27 left to play, but they just could not seem to get back in transition, leaving the Thunder with numbers on five consecutive possessions.
“Sometimes it’s scary getting those leads, to be honest with you because it’s a game of runs,” Hawks guard Trae Young said. “This is a game of runs because when you get on the run, sometimes it’s just a natural habit to relax.
“And I don’t think we relaxed. I think we had a solid lead throughout the whole game and just late again in the game, they just played more aggressive and we were playing too much trying not to foul and give them and-ones and things like that and not as aggressive as we were the first three quarters and maybe it was because they was in the bonus early in the fourth and didn’t want to give them free throws, but we still got to be more aggressive. And just late in games when they’re trapping me, guys got to be continued to be aggressive, and we’ll continue to get better at it.”
It was the second game in a row in which the Hawks (14-19) allowed their opponent to go on a significant run in the final two to three minutes of a matchup. In Sunday’s win over the Wizards, the Hawks led by 15 with 2:16 to go, before giving up an 18-7 run that cut their lead to 129-126 with only 8.6 seconds to play.
On Sunday, the Hawks did find ways to get to the line, but they missed seven free throws while also allowing the Wizards to make open 3-point shots. On Wednesday, the Hawks just did not have enough urgency to get back after making their shots and the Thunder seized those moments.
“Well, I think when you’re ahead, and if a team gets you on your heels, in JJ’s (Jalen Johnson) case there was a couple of times he didn’t want to foul,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said following Wednesday’s game. “If that is the case with any of us, when someone’s got their head down, and they’re going full speed in transition, you can’t guard them one-on-one, and we just have to shift to the point where they see bodies and don’t allow them to get through those gaps.
“And in that time when you have the lead, the offense is just in full blown attack mode, and it takes more — more urgency even if you score (you have) to get back. There were a few times, we hit a shot and then they’re back and they score in six, seven seconds. And those possessions are tough. Tonight, we we did enough offensively to give a cushion. Some of that will happen to a degree, but we’ve got to do a better job. We did a great job at the end of the half and that mindset I think just, it’s a collective focus that you have to have.”
So far this season, the Hawks average 16.3 opponent fast-break points, the third most in the NBA behind the Trail Blazers and Mavericks. But per Cleaning the Glass, those transition points don’t come off of turnovers, despite opponents averaging 17 points off of the average 13.7 Hawks miscues per game.
Instead, opponents have taken advantage of the Hawks’ inability to get back on defense after failing to grab the rebound or after a made basket. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Hawks sit in the 29th percentile in frequency with nearly 35% of their live-ball rebounds leading to transition play. On average, the Hawks give up 126.4 points per 100 transition plays, which puts them in the 24th percentile, according to Cleaning the Glass.
The Hawks have looked to address transition defense over the years, but their inability to get back continues to hurt them this season. That issue gets exacerbated when opponents adjust in the second half after the Hawks have built double-digit leads.
This season, the Hawks are 13-9 when they hold a double-digit lead at some point in the game. Following their loss to the Kings on Dec. 28, the Hawks sit behind only the Spurs in number of losses after holding double-digit leads.
But as the Hawks move forward, they’ll look to continue maintaining their poise when opponents go on runs and adapt quickly to make the right stops. They did that throughout the night Wednesday, particularly in the third quarter when the Thunder cut the lead to seven several times.
“It was good,” Snyder said. “I think we have some empty possessions offensively, and they were able to convert. I felt like we did a really good job early getting back in transition. And then there were a number of situations where we either gave up open looks or gave up the rim right away early in the possession and don’t give ourselves a chance to guard.
“So, I thought we corrected that, (we) would like to correct it more. But enough where we were able to make some shots and re-extend the lead. So we did a good job of keeping our poise in those situations.”
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LETTING LEADS GET AWAY
The Hawks have held leads of 10 points or more in 22 of their 33 games played. They won 13 of the 22. Here’s what happened in the other nine:
Oct. 25 at Charlotte, held a lead of 11 and lost 116-110
Nov. 21 vs. Indiana, held a lead of 20 and lost 157-152
Nov. 28 at Cleveland, held a lead of 12 and lost 128-105
Dec. 11 vs. Denver, held a lead of 11, lost 129-122
Dec. 13 at Toronto, held a lead of 12, lost 135-128
Dec. 22 at Miami, held a lead of 11, lost 122-113
Dec. 23 vs. Memphis, held a lead of 12, lost 125-119
Dec. 26 at Chicago, held a lead of 12, lost 118-113
Dec. 29 vs. Sacramento, held a lead of 23, lost 117-110
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