After four days without a game, the Hawks should have felt refreshed.
Instead, they had their worst game in weeks. Instead of finding the energy to come back from another early deficit, they watched Arron Afflalo break their spirit in a 111-97 Sunday afternoon loss to the Knicks.
“Every time we tried to make a run, he seemed to make another 3,” Kyle Korver said.
Afflalo was a perfect 7-for-7 on 3-pointers before finally missing late in the third quarter. He missed just three of his 17 shots overall, scoring a season-high 38 points.
Early deficits haven’t always been a problem for the Hawks, who were 15 points down in a win over the Knicks last week, and 19 points down in a win over the Rockets last Wednesday. But a 15-point first-half deficit grew to 17 points in the third quarter Sunday, and then to as many as 18 points before both teams emptied the bench.
“Probably not one of our better days,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said. “We just didn’t have our game and New York was one of the reasons.”
The Hawks couldn’t stop Afflalo, but they also couldn’t get going offensively themselves.
“We just couldn’t get in a rhythm,” Al Horford said.
“It didn’t seem like our offense was as crisp,” Budenholzer said. “We weren’t where we need to be.”
Afflalo was where he needed to be, both offensively and defensively, where he helped keep Hawks guard Kyle Korver cold for another game.
The Hawks get another chance to stop Afflalo on Tuesday night at Philips Arena. Maybe it’s good they only have one day off before that game.
Here are the key players and five observations on the game:
Three key players
Arron Afflalo: The Knicks guard made 14-of-17 shots and dominated the game with a season-high 38 points.
Paul Millsap: The Hawks forward saw his streak of three straight games with 20-plus points come to an end, but he led the team with 19.
Kent Bazemore: The Hawks guard made four 3-pointers and finished with 18 points.
Five observations
1. Unstoppable Afflalo
Believe it or not, Afflalo had been in a shooting slump before Sunday. You couldn’t prove it by the Hawks, who were completely unable to stop him. Budenholzer pointed out that several of Afflalo’s 3-pointers came in transition, and a couple of others came right at the end of the shot clock. But the guy wasn’t missing, and somehow the Hawks kept missing him. “He was on fire, making tough shots, really kind of backbreakers,” Horford said. “He was the difference.”
2. Budenholzer makes a point at point guard
For the second straight game, Shelvin Mack was the Hawks’ second option at point guard, with Dennis Schroder once again never getting off the bench. Budenholzer wouldn’t expand on why he made the switch, saying only that Schroder isn’t hurt and that the Hawks are “always trying to grow the roster.”
3. Korver finally makes a few shots
After going back-to-back games without making a 3-pointer for the first time in four seasons, Kyle Korver got one to fall late in the third quarter. Korver had missed 18 straight from behind the line over the previous two games and didn’t even attempt a 3-pointer in Sunday’s first half. He took one and missed early in the third, and finally made one with about two minutes remaining in the quarter. He took just one the rest of the way — and missed it. “It still wasn’t that great,” he said. “I’ve been shooting a lot [in practice] the last few days.”
4. Hawks fall behind again
The bad starts make for a good story if you come back, as the Hawks did after trailing the Rockets by 19 points last week. Sunday, the Hawks found themselves trying to climb uphill for the whole game.They fell behind 11-2 early, recovered to take an 18-17 lead, then were down by double-digits by the midway point in the second quarter. Another mini-recovery saw them cut a 15-point deficit to 10 points by halftime, but they never got closer than seven points after that.
5. Days off didn’t help
Korver said after the game that the Hawks seem to feel a little sluggish when they have a few days between games, and it certainly looked like it with the four-day break that preceded Sunday’s game. The Hawks actually followed their only other four-day break this season with a win, 98-95, on Dec. 9 in Dallas. They don’t have that many days off again until the All-Star break in February.
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