The Hawks struggled to keep up with the depleted Hornets’ on Sunday. Despite the absence of veterans LaMelo Ball, Terry Rozier and Cody Martin, the Hawks fell to the Hornets 126-109.
Here are five observations:
1. The Hawks had trouble containing the ball after the first quarter as the Hornets carved them up with 28 assists for 65 points.
Ahead of the game, the team talked of the importance of containing the ball to take advantage of opportunities to get out in transition quickly. However, the Hornets proved to be the ones in control. They dropped 62 points inside the paint, the second time in three games that the Hawks have allowed an opponent to score more than 50 points down low.
The Hornets also lit the Hawks up from outside, shooting 42.3% from 3-point range, making 11 of their 26 attempts.
“I thought the first quarter, we had a rhythm early,” Hawks coach Nate McMillan said. “But then we started to turn the ball over defensively. We just could not get stops. You know, they ended up getting into a rhythm and we just was not able to get stops in the second quarter or the third quarter.”
The Hawks allowed a combined 82 points in the two middle quarters.
“And, when you’re not making shots, you can’t drop your head. You have to get back and play defense,” McMillan added. “And I felt like our lack of shot making tonight, we took that to the defensive end of the floor. We didn’t play (expletive) defense.”
2. One reason for the Hornets’ domination inside the paint was second-year center Nick Richards. The Hawks struggled to contain the former Kentucky Wildcat, who did not miss a shot, going 9-of-9 and picking up a couple of and-one opportunities. He ended with 20 points and 11 rebounds and two blocked shots in 20 minutes. Five of Richards’ rebounds were on the offensive end as he helped the Hornets outscore the Hawks in second-chance points.
Richards was effective at cutting to the basket and slipping past the Hawks defense and drawing them into contact.
“Honestly we weren’t really worried about their game plan, we just wanted to stick to our game plan,” Richards said when asked how he was so effective. “Again, they came out with a lot of energy. But we matched it as the first quarter kept on going. But I feel like we got better as a team today. I thought that we improved.”
3. The Hawks second unit, which had been a strength in the first two games, seemingly took a step back on Sunday. The Hawks had control of the game with Trae Young getting the ball moving early. Young had nine points and three assists on 4-of-6 shooting in the first quarter. However, he picked up his third foul with 2:36 remaining in the period and seemingly took the team’s energy with him. The Hornets went on a 25-6 run, with the Hawks struggling to knock down a shot until guard Dejounte Murray made the team’s first field goal with 8:52 remaining in the second quarter.
McMillan will be looking to that second unit to hold the line and keep control.
“That’s going to happen, these situations like that, where one or two, the starters may not get going and you’re going to need some help from the bench,” McMillan said. “But I just didn’t feel like we were connected out there tonight.”
4. With the Hornets controlling the tempo for much of the game, the Hawks struggled to get into a rhythm on the offensive end. After putting up 30 points in the first quarter, the Hawks’ offense fell flat in the second.
The Hawks scored just 25 points in the second quarter as they struggled to get the ball moving and tried to attack the basket. As they tried to work through contact, they managed to get to the line 14 times, where they sank 12 of them.
But their trips to the line weren’t enough to spark enough of rhythm to cut into the Hornet’s lead.
The Hawks also struggled to compete against the Hornet’s air raid, making just 22.9% of their shots from a distance which bled into the rest of the game.
“I mean I think they just came here wanting the game more, showing more effort,” Murray said. “They was ready to play. We wasn’t ready to play, to start on myself. That’s really what we take from it.”
5. It was another bad night for turnovers on Sunday. Though the Hawks committed fewer, they proved too costly. The Hornets scored 17 points off of the Hawks’ 12 turnovers. The Hawks have now given away 28 points off turnovers in the last two games after ending last season with a league-low 11.9 giveaways per game.
Stat to know
The Hornets bench outscored the Hawks’ second unit 52-28.
Quotable
“It’s exciting. It’s good. He’s gonna have a long NBA career. Just the way he is, he’s a sponge to learning new things. He wants to do great every time he’s out there on the court. So that’s a start. So he can play, too, at the same time. So it’s good that he was able to get his first three to go in and I was excited for him.” — Trae Young on taking rookie AJ Griffin under his wing
Up Next
The Hawks head on the road for an eight-day, five game trip. First stop, Detroit to face the Pistons.
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