Five observations from the Hawks’ 102-99 loss to the Thunder Monday night.
1. The Hawks held a lengthy shootaround Monday morning – complete with an intense film session. It came on the heels of back-to-back losses by a combined 80 points. The main issue of the session was a return to the unselfish ball movement offense with an emphasis on playing with the pass.
“It’s human nature,” Tim Hardaway Jr. said. “When someone gets on you with constructive criticism, you are going to go out there and compete. It was great. The film session was great. Shootaround was great. I think everybody took it to heart.”
The ball movement was better and coach Mike Budenholzer said he was pleased. There were some missed layups and free throws the team would like back. The Hawks finished with 26 assists on 34 field goals. There was a significant decline in isolation plays.
2. The Hawks cut into a nine-point deficit, 100-91, with 3:06 remaining. They got as close as three points – a one possession game – and had the ball with 9.6 seconds left following a timeout when Thabo Sefolosha controlled a jump ball.
On the inbounds play, Hardaway bobbled a pass and then was forced into a long 3-point attempt that missed the mark.
“I think everybody was (an option),” Hardaway said. “If Dennis (Schroder) was open on the backdoor, hit him. If Kyle (Korver) was open, hit him. I was kind of the third option. I was trying to curl for the most part, go for the (two and foul again). But the ball popped a little out of my hand. It happens. I ended up having the ball with three or four seconds left. I was trying to go for the tie.”
3. Thabo Sefolosha was inserted into the starting lineup in place of Korver and got the assignment of slowing his former teammate Russell Westbrook. Sefolosha did a decent job early as Westbrook had just five points at halftime on 1 of 7 shooting. His first field goal did not come until seven minutes left in the second quarter. Sefolosha had two steals from Westbrook in the early going.
However, Westbrook caught fire in the second half. He had 16 third-quarter points and nine fourth-quarter points to finish with 32 points. The Hawks used Sefolosha and Korver to trap Westbrook late in the game and it was successful for several possessions.
“It’s (a challenge) for everybody,” Sefolosha said of guarding Westbrook. “He can do so many different things. He plays as such a high energy level. You have to try to take his air space, contest his shot. He made a bunch tonight.”
4. Dwight Howard struggled with foul trouble. He picked up his third foul in the second quarter and the Thunder immediately went on a 9-0 to take the lead for good, although the Hawks would briefly tie the game in the third quarter. The Hawks also had to deal with Mike Muscala picking up his three first-half fouls.
In all, Howard played just 19 minutes, including just three in the fourth quarter. Budenholzer went with a small lineup that had a successful run of closing the game enough to have a potential game-tying shot.
“We just went with a smaller group where we could maybe spread them out and get some looks in transition,” Budenholzer said. “Just give our players a little more room to operate.”
Howard finished with six points, seven rebounds and four turnovers. He admitted to poor play following the game.
5. It was sure nice for the Hawks to have Millsap back. After he missed three games with a sore left hip, the All-Star forward finished with a team-high 24 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Millsap was evasive on his hip. “It made it through,” he said. He added only that he would see how it felt Tuesday.
At one point in the fourth quarter, Millsap had 20 points and the rest of the starters had 19 points.
“We were able to get under the screener and hit that half-roll situation and get some easy layups at the basket,” Millsap said. “Tried to take advantage of the mismatches as much as possible.”
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