Hawks lose to Timberwolves 100-92 despite De’Andre Hunter’s career-high 35 points

Silver linings.

The Atlanta Hawks were in Minnesota on Monday evening to face the Timberwolves. This was the first game of a back-to-back for the Hawks, and they were without a few key players while also getting a few back.

Trae Young, Jalen Johnson, and Larry Nance Jr. were out, but Zaccharie Risacher and De’Andre Hunter returned from their absences. It was going to be another game where the depth of the Hawks would have to show up.

Risacher got the Hawks on the board with this floater over Rudy Gobert.

The Hawks went down nine points early, finding it hard to get any offense going. Things started clicking after a while, and Mouhamed Gueye, who was called up from the G League earlier in the day, made an instant impact on the floor.

Later on, the dunks started connecting for the Hawks, as Vit Krejci got an open lane and threw it down with both hands.

Gueye then got another dunk for the Hawks to go.

Though the Hawks picked up things on offense, they weren’t able to keep it going down the stretch of the quarter and the Timberwolves had an eight-point lead going into the second.

De’Andre Hunter kept the Hawks in the game to start the second with six quick points.

Both teams got in a short slump on offense, but Naz Reid was able to get the Timberwolves back in motion with a few threes. That didn’t stop the Hawks from fighting, and they continued to close in on their deficit.

After getting their deficit down to just five points, the Timberwolves went on a run and extended their lead to as much as 16 points. Things then started getting chippy between Onyeka Okongwu and Julius Randle, and both were given technical fouls.

Wallace and Hunter knocked down threes to cut down the deficit for a moment, but the Timberwolves went on a run down the stretch and increased the lead back to 17 points going into halftime.

The Hawks started the second half turning defense to offense, cutting down their deficit early.

Risacher knocked down this three-pointer to get the Hawks’ deficit down to single digits.

The Timberwolves ran the score back up, but the Hawks came back swinging as usual. Hunter started picking it up on offense to keep the Hawks in it.

Both teams once again went into an offensive slump, but the Hawks took advantage in the end, only trailing six points going into the fourth.

The fourth quarter did not start well for the Hawks, as the Timberwolves opened on a 9-2 run before Quin Snyder called a timeout to regroup. A regroup was exactly what the Hawks needed because Hunter came out hot again to get them back in the game.

Hunter kept it going down the stretch, trying to reel the team back in.

Another three for Hunter to get the Hawks deficit to six points.

From there, the Hawks failed to get anything to go in their final few possessions of the game and ultimately fell short.

Hunter finished with 35 points, Capela finished with 10 points and 15 rebounds, and Wallace finished with 13 points and seven assists.

The Hawks will be back in action tomorrow against the Rockets.