The Grizzlies came out the blocks firing and never really looked back
The Atlanta Hawks suffered a home loss on Saturday night at the hands of the Memphis Grizzlies, 128-112.
De’Andre Hunter led the Hawks in scoring with 26 points with Dyson Daniels adding 15 points. For the Grizzlies, Desmond Bane scored 23 points with Scottie Pippen Jr. adding 22 points and nine assists.
Heading into this contest, both sides were without their star point guards; both Trae Young and Ja Morant were sidelined due to injury. In addition for the Hawks, Onyeka Okongwu remains sidelined, while Kobe Bufkin will be on the sidelines for the rest of the season following shoulder surgery.
The Grizzlies were considered favorites heading in, and the opening frame of this game set the game on its determined path the rest of the way. A 12-2 start for the Grizzlies gave them an initial lead that they would never relinquish. The Hawks’ initial response after the first timeout got them back within single digits, but this did not last long.
“I think we responded well after that first stretch, and we have to be solid on defense,” said Vit Krejci. “It was tough for us, they were getting a lot of buckets in the first half, so it was tough to run and it slowed us down on offense and defense. We’re at our best when we play fast. We’ve got to make sure we get stops and run.”
The Grizzlies re-established their double-digit lead and maintained it for the rest of the night. In the end, the Grizzlies poured out 43 first quarter points, outscoring the Hawks 43-27. Offensively, the Hawks were okay — 27 points on 44% isn’t terrible — but defensively it’s a little more complicated when the opposition shoots 61% from both the field and from three.
The recipe for the Grizzlies was largely the same: Scottie Pippen Jr./the Grizzlies drive into the paint and kick it out — rinse and repeat. The Hawks’ point of attack defense was poor — they couldn’t contain the ball out front and it led to penetration (62 points in the paint in the game) and kickouts for threes (eight in the first quarter, 18 in all).
Here, Pippen gets into the lane and kicks the ball out to Bane for a three:
A drive deep into the lane in transition from Pippen, who has a choice on his flanks to deliver the pass, choosing Marcus Smart, who knocks down the three:
The roles are reversed on this possession as Smart drives in, and Keaton Wallace commits to the dig, and when the ball is fed back out to the perimeter to Pippen he rises well clear of the contest of Wallace for three:
Again, another drive from the Grizzlies results in a three for Marcus Smart off the kick:
Lastly, and highlighting the Grizzlies’ first quarter, was this drive gone wrong from Jaren Jackson Jr. and Jake Laravia hitting a miracle three in the corner:
The Grizzlies hit eight threes in the first quarter alone, many of them with drive and kick as they likely would have been had Morant played. The Hawks, conversely, without Young weren’t able to play in a similar manner than the Grizzlies did without their star. Where this really reared its head for the hosts was the 25 turnovers they committed, as the Hawks — without Young and Bufkin — struggled for strong possession of the ball.
Wallace, on a couple of occasions, fired the ball straight out of bounds:
Off of a Daniels steal, the Aussie leads the break but his attempted pass is deflected and out of bounds for the turnover:
The Hawks didn’t do the greatest job at times handling the ball, but it must be said the Grizzlies did a great job disrupting the Hawks’ offense.
Zaccharie Risacher’s attempted lob for Jalen Johnson is broken up by the Grizzlies, resulting in a turnover:
Next, Daniels looks to back down Pippen in the post but is quickly swarmed by a Grizzlies defense that forces Daniels to kill his dribble, and his attempted pass to the opposite corner results in a turnover:
From the top of the key, Johnson attempts to lob into Daniels underneath the rim but the pass is intercepted by Zach Edey:
Another looping pass up the floor is again intercepted by the Grizzlies, resulting in a turnover:
In transition, Johnson leads the break but his looping pass inside is, again, broken up for another turnover:
The Grizzlies were credited for 13 steals on the night, with the Hawks amassing 25 turnovers off which the Grizzlies scored 26 points. It was a combination of the Hawks missing Young offensively to handle the ball and the Grizzlies doing a good job defensively.
Once the Grizzlies opened a 20-point lead, they absolutely did not look back, extending the lead as large as 29 points, and it never fell below 15 in the second half — even in garbage time.
The two points of emphasis postgame boiled down to two things: the defense, and turnovers. One of these is absolutely impacted by the absence of Young. The other would be the defense, with Hawks head coach Quin Snyder noted primarily the Hawks’ point of attack defense, allowing the Grizzlies into the lane, and over-helping on the Grizzlies.
“They got in the paint, that was the first thing we didn’t do a good enough job containing the ball,” said Snyder. “A lot of times those drives weren’t necessarily for finishes. They would kick back out, and we were over-helping. And they space and cut and got some good looks and made them. I thought in the second half we did a better job of being more disciplined in those situations and not over-helping.”
“We’ve got to contain the ball a bit better,” added Vit Krejci.
Dyson Daniels similarly echoed the poor defensive game the Hawks executed, allowing the Grizzlies to get in and drive and kick out to shooters, believing the Hawks weren’t on the same page defensively.
“They were killing us the first half,” said Daniels. “We were helping too much and letting them get out and (getting) eyes-out threes and they were making them. We have to adjust. Second half, we found out a little more and made them take more twos than threes but all around it wasn’t a good defensive game for us. We weren’t on the same page, we weren’t rotating for each other, we were late to everything, they got out in transition too much. It was a bad defensive game for us.”
Similarly, Daniels believed the Hawks’ weren’t on the same page on the offensive end.
“We weren’t as together as we wanted to be tonight,” said Daniels. “It showed. We had a lot of turnovers — me included, I was throwing some bad passes — we were late to things, our spacing wasn’t right. Tonight wasn’t a good offensive game for us, we weren’t on the same page. Taking tough twos rather than getting our eyes out and finding threes, which we’ve been emphasizing as a team. Tonight we took a step back in that department. We know how we want to play, how it feels when we play the right way. Tonight we didn’t play the right way.”
Daniels highlighted the lack of spacing, which is an element that Snyder also zeroed in on.
“I didn’t think we ran hard enough and when we did we didn’t think we spaced,” said Snyder of the differences offensively first and second half. “We were looking at a wall. Then at times we tried to make plays individually, and those shots are usually harder shots. We had some really good possessions where we did run or drove the ball and were spaced and kicked it out and kept playing and were more connected. We got good looks when we did that. We’ve got to do more of one and less of another.”
Looking at individuals who took difficult shots at times, basically everyone was on the hook for tough shots. Whether it was Clint Capela attempting hooks on Edey, Jalen Johnson’s tough attempts, Bogdan Bogdanovic struggling to get involved, a lack of offense from the point guard spot… Not many Hawks played too well last night. Daniels was decent offensively, and Hunter was an efficient 26 points (9-of-14 shooting) and looked like the only Hawk who could go and get a bucket and make something happen offensively.
The Hawks, unlike the Grizzlies in Scottie Pippen Jr., were really hurt offensively by not having a reliable point guard option, and this was also reflective in the turnovers the Hawks committed last night. These turnovers also helped the Grizzlies attempt 17 more shot attempts than the Hawks, which makes a huge difference when you’re shooting over 51% from the field as the Grizzlies did.
“I think tonight there were a lot of careless turnovers,” said Snyder. “Just trying to get something quick and easy, as opposed to being disciplined and working a little harder than you may have to. Long passes, balls were getting tipped, I think that was related to a lack of precision that we had in some of those possessions offensively.”
The Grizzlies’ offense, meanwhile, was as smooth and solid without Ja Morant, scoring 128 points on 51.5% shooting from the field and 44% from three.
“Memphis play a little different to everyone, they play the way we want to play,” said Daniels. “They play chaos ball, move the ball, drive the ball, find who is open. We couldn’t contain the ball tonight, that was the main thing. They beat us in the middle and our help was a little late and they found shooters. We were a step slow tonight.”
The other aspect of this whole game that hasn’t been mentioned is that the Grizzlies are one of the best teams in the league, and when they can perform as they did without Morant, for it to look as though they didn’t miss a beat without him, says so much about their depth and quality.
The Hawks just don’t have the same depth at the moment, especially at point guard when Young is out. Ultimately this was reflective in the turnovers, but in addition the Hawks’ defense wasn’t good enough and they couldn’t contain Memphis. I think you can honestly point to the Hawks’ loss on these two factors.
Young should return soon, and the Hawks will play worse teams than the Grizzlies coming up — this loss won’t mean a massive amount in the grand scheme. Memphis were worth their win — they were excellent, effective on both sides of the ball.
The Hawks (14-15) are back in action on Monday against the Minnesota Timberwolves (14-13) at home at State Farm Arena.
…Until next time!