A much-needed return to winning ways for the Atlanta Hawks.
The Atlanta Hawks snapped their four-game losing streak with a comfortable 126-111 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans at Smoothie King Arena on Sunday night.
Jalen Johnson tied his career-high with 29 points to go with nine rebounds and eight assists. Trae Young added 23 points and 12 assists. For the Pelicans, Brandon Ingram led the way with 32 points, and Jordan Hawkins added 19 points.
For the game itself: Hawks turn it up in the fourth quarter to pull away
If there was a game where Hawks were going to reverse their fortunes, it was going to be this game. New Orleans are just as banged up, if not more banged up, than the Hawks. Former Hawk Dejounte Murray, C.J. McCollum, Herb Jones, Trey Murphy III, and then Zion Williamson were all sidelined for the Pelicans. For the Hawks, while Bogdan Bogdanovic, De’Andre Hunter, Kobe Bufkin, and Vit Krejci — with Onyeka Okongwu joining the injury ranks — were all sidelined, the Hawks were given a welcome boost by the return of Dyson Daniels to the starting lineup.
The Hawks started with a 13-4 burst before the Pelicans composed themselves and steadied the ship. The Pelicans took their own lead in the second quarter and indeed into the half-time break, but it was in the second half where the tide began to shift. The Hawks were laser-sharp to start the second half, beginning with a quick 7-0 burst to retake the lead before building the first double-digit lead of the night.
The Hawks shot 15-of-19 (78.9%) in the third quarter en route to 35 points, with Young accounting for 11 of those points including three three-pointers to go with six assists. Young was excellent in the third, and it was encouraging to see the three fall for him after a difficult start to the season in which he has been tasked with a very heavy load in terms of scoring and minutes.
Part of this was due to the Hawks’ bench performing very well last night in Young’s absence when he did rest, and this included the fourth quarter when the Hawks’ second unit not only survived with Young off the floor but began to put their foot down and take control of this game from a Pelicans side who didn’t let the third quarter slip bury them.
The second unit pushed the lead back to double-digits after plays from Keaton Wallace, Larry Nance Jr., and Jalen Johnson, prompting a New Orleans timeout. When the Hawks returned, with Young on the floor, they put the game to bed with a killer run which began by forcing three consecutive turnovers.
The Hawks throw a second body at Ingram — who had been hitting most of the night, taking advantage of his favorable matchups — as David Roddy and Johnson extend the pressure at mid-court. Roddy continues to pressure the ball while Johnson then excellently denies Ingram the ball. As the Pelicans look to shift the ball, Wallace pounces upon a pass, collects the steal, and finishes at the other end in transition:
The Hawks again anticipate well, this time Nance intercepts the Hawkins pass and leads the break himself to score and extend the Hawks’ lead:
Next, Ingram loses the ball and it’s collected by Young, who finds Johnson in transition and he finishes through contact for the basket plus the foul:
“That was huge for our confidence and the team and being able to do it together,” said Garrison Mathews of this three-steal run.
Ingram is next faced by some tough Johnson defense, and when the three is missed Johnson has already set off down the floor. Young rebounds the ball and immediately outlets to Johnson, who finishes with style, simultaneously finishing the Pelicans as the visitors take a 19-point lead:
The Hawks ran their lead as high as 25 points in the end, and with both sides in action tonight on a back-to-back, they sent in what reserves they could.
The Hawks snapped their four-game losing streak in style in that fourth quarter: an excellent second half in which they shot 69% from the field.
Postgame, Hawks head coach Quin Snyder praised his side’s defense and credited the defense for fuelling their offense, especially in transition.
“I think it really comes down to defense,” said Snyder postgame. “We executed better in the second half defensively, consecutive possessions where we got stops. I thought there was a point in the first half where we started doing a better job on the defensive glass. We were playing OK, but we weren’t finishing possessions. In the second half we did a better job of that and that allows us to get out and run.”
Snyder revealed he challenged Johnson to get more involved in the rebounding effort.
“JJ in particular, there was a timeout where I got on him a little bit about that and I liked how he responded,” said Snyder. “We need him to be really good defender and a presence on the defensive glass, because he’s one of those guys who if he rebounds he can push it.”
Defense fueling offense is a Snyder theme, and during that decisive run you can see why Snyder believes it to be so important. A brilliant second half on both ends, with the Pelicans only really hanging about thanks to Brandon Ingram taking advantage of a lack of size/experience at the wing positions.
Johnson bully-ball, Hawks dominate the paint battle
The Pelicans lacked size inside the paint/at the rim, and the Hawks ensured this was punished, and Johnson was the punisher — 29 points on 12-of-20 shooting to go with 5-of-6 at the free throw line.
The Pelicans just had no answer for Johnson at the rim, and once he got any head of steam, it was very difficult for the Pelicans to contain him.
Here, Johnson muscles his way to the rim on the drive, able to carve out space for his layup inside:
On the run in transition where Johnson is a threat, Daniels finds Johnson, who powers to the rim and finishes through contact, plus the foul:
Bringing the ball up himself, Johnson takes advantage of the matchup with Jose Alvarado and bullies his way to the rim for the basket:
After some great defensive work by the Hawks, Johnson comes up with the loose ball and leads the charge in transition, and takes off from distance to thunder home a dunk at the rim with the Pelicans simply unable to live with his athleticism:
We’ve seen this play already, but Johnson again finishes at the rim through contact, simply overpowering his opponents:
The Hawks outscored the Pelicans 66-32 in the paint, with Johnson accounting for 22 of those as he tied his career-high of 29 points in an all-around performance that included nine rebounds, eight assists, two steals and two blocks.
“I’m just playing my game,” said Johnson. “I trust myself, my teammates trust me, my coaches trust me. When all those things are clicking you just have a lot more fun with basketball.”
It was an excellent performance inside by Johnson, who — along with Young — led the way last night. The travel turnovers are still a bit concerning in terms of the frequency they appear to happen, but that’s about the only negative thing you could say last night about Johnson. On both ends, he was terrific.
A happy return
The Hawks and Pelicans obviously engaged in a trade over the summer, with Larry Nance Jr. and Dyson Daniels coming to Atlanta. Last night marked their return to New Orleans and they were both motivated for it.
Daniels scored 16 points on 7-of-10 from the field and 2-of-5 from three in his return to action — albeit on a minutes restriction — but in addition to his offense was of course his excellent defense which the Hawks have sorely missed in his absence.
“He sets a tone on the ball,” said Snyder.
Upon hitting his second three right in front of the Pelicans bench, Daniels was not shy in his celebrations towards the Pelicans bench but this was more so banter than any animosity, with Daniels highlighting the trash talking going on from both sides.
“They’re my brothers over there, but they talk a lot of shit as well!” said Daniels. “We’re brothers off the floor but on the floor it’s all business. We got at each other, I think BI (Brandon Ingram) went at me a lot tonight. They were talking shit, I was talking shit, this game was definitely circled on the calendar.”
Nance, meanwhile, has been a curious case this season. He clearly makes an impact when he plays, but — even in the midst of an injury crisis — Snyder has been reluctant to play Nance a ton of minutes. With Okongwu out last night there was no choice, and in the second half Nance’s performance was great — his screen-setting helped set up Young for a look at a three, and Nance made some plays himself including two three-pointers en route to 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting.
Similar to Daniels, Nance also enjoyed the trash talking to his former teammates.
“We’re all competitors and we’re friends,” said Nance of the celebration towards the Pelicans bench. “When we were competing against each, you’re able to say some things to each because just because it’s all love. Made three, blew a kiss. Dyson also had some choice actions for them too. It’s all love at the end of the day. Everybody in that locker-room I have nothing but love and admiration for. Tonight was a lot of fun, glad we won.”
All jokes aside, Nance really should be playing more and it shouldn’t take the absence of Okongwu for this to occur.
All in all, both former Pelicans played very well on the road, were motivated to do so, and both enjoyed securing a victory over their former side. Their new teammates, similarly, also wanted to secure victory for them.
“We wanted to get the win for them,” said Jalen Johnson. “They only get to come here once being in the Eastern Conference now … we love those guys and we wanted to do it for them.”
“I think it was pretty simple,” said Johnson. “We came in at halftime, we knew what we needed to do and that was turn it up defensively. If we did that, shots would eventually fall. We just kept getting stops in the second half, everyone knew the job that needed to get done. We executed with that and it resulted in a win.”
All in all…
The Hawks are no strangers to the Pelicans’ injury plight, and they took advantage with a fantastic second performance to twice push out that lead. The non-Young minutes were great — the second unit has been really solid for the Hawks (chalk up another 3-of-6 night from three from Garrison Mathews as his hot start to the season continues). This helped Young rest a bit, playing just 31 minutes last night which was a much needed relief as he’s already played three 40+ minute games this season.
The plus/minus numbers are I think a little unfair on the bench — they were really good in the fourth quarter to push the lead to 10, and when Young returned the defense was excellent. That run where the Hawks forced three steals was pivotal, scoring off of each of them.
Jalen Johnson was excellent, he dominated the Pelicans inside as the Hawks dominated the paint battle. Daniels and Nance were great on their return to New Orleans — it was just a much-needed, feel-good victory for the Hawks. They shot 56.8% from the field, 41% from three and 91% from the line — healthy numbers all around.
The Hawks (3-4) are back in action tonight against the Boston Celtics (6-1) at State Farm Arena.
A difficult game in any circumstance, but with injuries it’ll be even more difficult but stranger things have happened!
…Until next time!