Traeson? Johnsyoung?
The Atlanta Hawks extended their winning streak to three games with a 120-110 victory over the Miami Heat. It was an important win as the Hawks will now start a six-game road trip, beginning with the Toronto Raptors tonight.
The Hawks’ depth was challenged as they were missing Dyson Daniel, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Onyeka Okongwu in this contest. At times throughout the game, head coach Quin Snyder had to use different lineups for the first time all season. And the shuffling of roles may have created some frustrating moments during the game.
“The one thing we can be sure of that there is going to be frustrating moments,” said Snyder. “It’s how you handle those moments like the good moments which usually determines your consistency. We didn’t have Dyson (Daniels) tonight, and I thought Keaton (Wallace), Vit (Krejci) and even (De’Andre) Hunter ended up guarding the ball more. A lot of guys found themselves in different situations, and I thought our defensive execution was solid.
“I think you can tell we were a little fatigue especially when you are committed and focus to defending as it can take your legs a little bit,” he continued. “We took care of the ball tonight, and part of that was because we took open shots, and we didn’t pass up shots which usually leads to turnovers.”
Turnovers continue to be a main focus for the Hawks as it cost them several games in the early parts of the season. The Hawks are a a good team when they can eliminate the turnovers as it allows the offense to be more efficient and effective.
Jalen Johnson has been a key part of eliminating turnovers — one of the the determining factors in the win today.
“We just take it game by game, and tonight we just did a good job of staying in the moment and not getting too flustered when they went on a run,” said Johnson. “At the end of the day, we did a good job of taking care of the ball. I think we only had 13 turnovers and that’s good. And that’s going to win us a bunch of games if we can eliminate turnovers like that — and most importantly just executing down the stretch.”
Johnson had another double-double as he finished the game with 28 points and 13 rebounds. Hunter added 26 points from off the bench and Trae Young had another double-double with 11 points and 15 assists. With the win, the Hawks are now 17-15 overall and in sixth place in the Eastern Conference.