The Hawks (11-35) couldn’t slow the Thunder (27-19) down and gave up 74 points in the second half of a 140-111 loss Friday night.
Below are some takeaways from the loss:
1. Thanks to some lucky scheduling, Trae Young was able to watch with family from his home in Oklahoma as he was named a starter in the All-Star game Thursday, then got to play in front of his hometown crowd Friday. It was an emotional 24 hours for Young, who got off to a slow shooting start, going 0-for-5 in the first quarter, his first field goal coming on a 3-pointer at the 4:11 mark in the second quarter, with the Hawks trailing 54-48. Overall, Young struggled from the field, but he still finished with 26 points (7-for-20 field goals, 2-for-8 3-point range, 10-for-12 free throws) and tallied a season-high 16 assists and just one turnover. As the Hawks' deficit grew, Young sat for the final 4:12 of the fourth quarter. "A lot going on the past 24 hours," Young said. "Didn't get to do my real routine today, not that I'm going to blame that, but that's just how it was, I just didn't get my same routine. Couldn't get my legs under me. All the shots I made were just the crazy shots, and that's when you know your night, it's just not your night. I was able to get everybody involved though, which was good, but just couldn't get a shot to fall tonight."
2. The Hawks mostly stuck with the Thunder in the first half and trailed by two points with 4:20 left in the third quarter, but quickly lost ground as OKC made four 3’s in a little over two minutes and led, 104-90, heading into the fourth. The deficit grew rapidly in the fourth quarter as shots stopped falling for Hawks but the Thunder kept its foot on the gas, and most all of the fourth was garbage time. The Hawks shot 33.3% from the field in the fourth (9-for-27) and 7.7% from 3-point range (1-for-13) as they slipped further and further behind. “That one stings,” Hawks coach Lloyd Pierce said. “I thought our guys were playing well tonight, for about 34 minutes. ... I thought our guys were playing well up until that point. And they just had a combination of getting beat off the dribble in the fourth quarter and an inability to score for us, was kind of a bad combination in that fourth quarter. Could never really slow them down or take them out of rhythm.” John Collins led the Hawks in scoring with 28 points, to go with six rebounds, and De’Andre Hunter added 10 points.
3. Shooting a blistering 64.1% from the field and 75% from 3 in the second half led the Thunder to post a season-high in scoring, and the Hawks had no answers on defense. Danilo Gallinari led the Thunder with 25 points (going 4-for-6 from 3-point range) and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 24 points, with seven players scoring in double-digits. “I think they went on a stretch where they just couldn’t miss and they were making 3’s, tough shots. ... They were making plays,” Young said. “It’s tough especially when you get this type of crowd behind you, they feed off that energy from the crowd and that’s what they did tonight.”
4. Rookie Cam Reddish’s shooting has started to come along after a slow start, and he kept with his strong January. Reddish, who continued his stingy defense, didn’t miss from 3-point range in the first half, going 3-for-3, and finished with 20 points (7-for-11 field goals, 4-for-6 3-pointers, 2-for-4 free throws) and five rebounds, adding one steal. This marked Reddish’s third 20-plus game in the last seven.
5. Center Alex Len, who recently missed four consecutive games with lower-back pain before returning in the win vs. the Clippers Wednesday, didn’t come out for the second half and was diagnosed with a right hip flexor strain. He was unable to return to the game. Before leaving, Len was held scoreless, adding four rebounds and three blocked shots in 14 minutes, but his absence no doubt hurt the Hawks’ odds late in the fourth quarter.
By the numbers
9 (The amount of 3’s OKC’s hit in the second half to gain momentum, going 14-for-25 overall)
Quotable
“I felt like we competed for the majority of the game and let them take over for a couple really crucial stretches, and I feel like it hurt us.” (The Hawks’ John Collins on the Thunder pulling away in the fourth)
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