CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Hawks needed a statement win to dust themselves off after dropping their last two games. After scoring 75 points in the first half, they downed the Hornets 125-106 on Friday night.
Here are five observations.
1. A lack of urgency, among other things, has plagued the Hawks in many of their games this season. But on Friday, they started things quickly as they stretched the Hornets’ defense all over the floor. The Hawks had a strong start to the night on both ends of the floor as they used their defense to get out in front.
The Hawks forced five turnovers in the first quarter and scored 14 points off them as they pushed the pace to keep the Hornets off balance.
“We want to continue with the intensity,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. “I thought we got off to a good start establishing our defense -- the defense, good, solid defense, rebounding the basketball led to a good flow on the offensive end of floor in the first quarter.”
Before heading to the locker room at halftime, they scored a season-high 75 points and led by 16. Every player in the nine-man rotation found the bottom of the net, with the Hawks going 25-of-40 from the floor and 9-of-18 from long range.
They made sure to draw favorable contact in the process as they made 94.1% of their 17 free-throw attempts.
2. An efficient start to the game from Hawks guard Trae Young played a part in the team’s strong first half.
Young began the night making five of his first seven shots from the floor, which included one shot from 3. By the end of the first half, he’d scored 19 points and doled out six assists to help the Hawks to their highest-scoring half of the season. He ended the night with nine assists.
The 24-year-old was able to rely on his floaters in the paint to help keep the Hawks out front and drew contact off of the Hornets early.
But he scored just two field goals in the second half as he used the Hornets’ physicality against them. He made 13 of his 14 free-throw attempts.
“It was important for us come out and have a fast start,” said Young, who finished with 31 points. “Obviously, we didn’t start the way we want to last game but this is a new game and a new chance for us to come out and play better so I’m glad we did.”
3. The Hawks adjusted their starting five and elevated Bogdan Bogdanovic into the first unit. The sharpshooter gave the team plenty of power from deep, knocking down seven of his nine attempts from 3.
He scored 28 points in 29 minutes, while pulling down nine rebounds on a night where the Hawks needed some extra power on the glass.
Along with his presence on the boards, Bogdanovic gave the Hawks another solid defender. Bogdanovic kept his man in front of him or simply bothered them as they tried to dribble inside. Though he had just one steal on the night, he made the Hornets work for every shot they took.
The Hawks matched up against Hornets forward Gordon Hayward, who made his return from a nine-game absence due to a shoulder injury. Bogdanovic helped to hold Hayward, a career 37% shooter, to 25% from distance on Friday.
“Well, he’s solid,” McMillan said of Bogdanovic. “He’s strong. He had the challenge of guarding Hayward tonight and just staying in front of him. Guys like that, Bogi takes a challenge. He’s had some big assignments like that guarding (DeMar) DeRozan and these these fours that can score. So we felt comfortable with that matchup tonight. I thought he did a solid job. And I think the most important thing was he gave us a lift shooting the ball tonight and knocking down shots.”
4. Turnovers nearly killed the Hawks’ chances of snapping their two-game losing streak. After giving up just five turnovers in the first half, the Hawks turned over the ball four times in the first three minutes of the third quarter.
The Hornets scored on each of those possessions and went on a 13-0 run to bring the game within three points with 8:28 left in the third.
The Hawks ended up giving up 20 points off of 14 turnovers by the end of the game.
Despite their recent struggles with the ball, the Hawks give up on average of 16.2 points per game, which is the eighth fewest in the league.
5. The Hawks did not have Clint Capela due to a strained calf and would need everyone contributing to pull down rebounds. Despite not having one of the top centers in the league, the Hawks competed on the glass, with the Hornets outrebounding them by just two (43-41).
The Hornets did cause some damage with second-chance opportunities, though. They had 15 offensive rebounds and scored 21 second-chance points.
The Hawks had a tough task, since the Hornets rank fifth in the league in second-chance points. Both Mason Plumlee and Nick Richards rank among the top 15 in offensive rebounding and it showed. Richards pulled down eight.
Stat to know
2,500 -- With his fifth field goal made, Trae Young has reached 2,500 in his career. He is the fourth player in Hawks history to reach 7,500 points, 2,500 field goals and 2,800 assists, joining Mookie Blaylock, Eddie Johnson and Lenny Wilkens.
Quotable
“Everybody likes to start right here. But I like to finish the games more. Honestly.” -- Bogdan Bogdanovic on joining the starting lineup.
Up next
The Hawks return to State Farm Arena Sunday to host the Magic for the fourth and final time this season.
