The Hawks opened the exhibition season with a 108-107 win over the Cavaliers Tuesday night at State Farm Arena.
After the Cavaliers took the lead toward the end of the third quarter, the Hawks fought back with some clutch plays. Third-year guard Trent Forrest hit a layup before rookie wing Seth Lundy hit a contested 3 from the left corner, cutting the Cavs’ lead to 104-103.
Lundy then fought over a screen set by Isaiah Mobley to draw an offensive foul, before Forrest hit a midrange jumper to give the Hawks a 105-104 lead with 30 seconds left in the game. Despite a 3 from the Cavs’ Emoni Bates, Forrest finished off the game for the Hawks, completing a 3-point play after drawing a foul on a layup.
Here are five observations:
1. For at least the last week, Hawks coach Quin Snyder cautioned to not read into the different combinations that he would run throughout training camp. In the team’s first game, Snyder utilized all 16 available players.
The team sat Bogdan Bogdanovic and De’Andre Hunter as it conscientiously manages the minutes of players. The Hawks have three more games over the next six days and they want to play it safe with managing fatigue before they open the regular season in two weeks.
After the game, Snyder said that Bogdanovic and Hunter will return to the rotation as the team continues to move players around.
2. With Hunter out, the Hawks started Saddiq Bey along with Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, Jalen Johnson and Clint Capela.
The Hawks still have to decide who will start at power forward when they tip off the regular season. But the combination of Bey and Johnson in the starting frontcourt alongside Capela gave them some solid spacing as well as strength on the defensive end.
Bey looked to attack the rim early, which opened up the floor for Young and Murray on the perimeter.
Johnson and Bey’s defense stood out early as they spent plenty of time trying to limit Mobley, the Cavs’ big man.
Credit: Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason.Getz@ajc.com
3. Since the Hawks look to evaluate different lineups, they got the chance to see what some of the players toward the end of bench can do.
The team’s closing lineup of Forrest, Garrison Mathews, Lundy, Miles Norris and Mouhamed Gueye recaptured the lead and sealed 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. ” Trent (Forrest) made a lot of plays. On the whole, I think we expected to have some good moments.”
Forrest scored 13 for the Hawks. Young had 12 points in 16 minutes. Onyeka Okongwu also chipped in 12 points.
Credit: Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason.Getz@ajc.com
4. The Hawks played usual rotational pieces for roughly one half to two-thirds of the game. Young, Murray and Capela did not return to the court after the first half and the Hawks had rookie guard Kobe Bufkin quarterback the plays in the second half.
It gave the Hawks a chance to see Bufkin’s ability to lead the team’s offense without Young or Murray on the floor. While he did a good job of getting to the rim to create his own opportunities, Bufkin still needs a little more time to adjust to the speed of the NBA to create for others.
“I felt like he got to the rim,” Snyder said. “He made some good reads and when he gets into paint, if he has his eyes out, he’s gonna be able to find people.”
Postgame Snyder praised Bufkin for his feel for the game, as well as finding opportunities to force turnovers. Midway through the fourth quarter, Bufkin took a charge and it sparked the Hawks’ push to their win.
Bufkin scored nine.
5. At media day, Snyder talked about defense being a decision. Early in the game, the Hawks showed some of the early buy-in to Snyder’s messaging about them improving defensively.
Though it’s just one game, the Hawks held the Cavs under 40% shooting from the floor and they eventually got out to a 12-point lead by the end of the first half.
Snyder pointed out that the team competed on the defensive end and they anticipated some of the breakdowns that would come. He added that they will continue to look at the film to see where they can continue improve and take a step forward.
“We have a few games in a row right now,” Snyder said. “So, this is similar to the regular season. You don’t have time to practice as much, but you got to figure out different ways to get that.”
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