Hawks unable to generate offense in tune-up loss to 76ers, 104-89

Tough watch for sure.

In the second game of preseason after a six-day layoff due to a rescheduled game, the Hawks once again suited up for an exhibition basketball contest. Atlanta welcomed the Philadelphia 76ers to State Farm Arena on Monday night, but the visitors wouldn’t have the services of superstar Joel Embiid for this one.

The starters for the Hawks remained unchanged from the first game: Young-Daniels-Hunter-Johnson-Capela. The Sixers countered with Tyrese Maxey, Eric Gordon, Kelly Oubre Jr., Paul George, and Andre Drummond.

It was a much better defensive start for the Hawks as compared to the previous game against the Pacers. Atlanta was able to hold the Sixers to just one make in their first nine attempts from the field, and that helped spring the team for some easy points in transition like this below.

Bogdan Bogdanovic got his first minutes of the preseason, as he and Kobe Bufkin were the first two substitutions in the game. Atlanta was able to quickly jump out to a 11-3 lead.

From there, the tides slowly, and then rapidly, turned, and the sledding became much tougher. The Sixers were able to get back in the game, and they largely controlled the rest of the first half. Even without Embiid, Atlanta was unable to match the Tyrese Maxey and Paul George firepower at times.

Zaccharie Risacher did come in and provide some scoring at times for the Hawks, as the rookie continued to look very comfortable in an NBA environment.

Trae Young had his usual long-range shot-making display this evening, despite one outrageous three being taken off the board due to a soft offensive foul call. Still, this one below late in the half stood.

At half, the Hawks trailed 54-48. Risacher led the team with nine points and five rebounds.

The second half was unfortunately more of the same on offense. The Hawks largely generated decent enough looks from the field, but they had a whale of a time trying to knock those very looks down.

Ultimately, it was an unsightly performance from the field, and in the process the game was never particularly close down the stretch. Atlanta fell to the Sixers by a score of 104-89 and dropped to 1-1 in the preseason.

With an expanded preseason rotation, Kobe Bufkin and Zaccharie Risacher among other young players saw an extended minutes load. Risacher finished with a team-high 14 points plus eight rebounds and an assist. Jalen Johnson chipped in a comfortable 10 points and seven rebounds.

Unfortunately, the majority of the rest of the team largely had offensive performances to forget in the loss. As a team, Atlanta shot 37% from the floor, 30% from three, and finished with 20 turnovers. The only respite is the Hawks have two more preseason contests to iron out some clear offensive issues.

The next game will be in Miami in a rescheduled game on Wednesday evening.