Official Game Thread: Hawks at Raptors

[JTB]

8 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Unleash the kids.

Which ones? 

[JayBirdHawk]

Finish the half strong please.

 

[JayBirdHawk]

1 minute ago, JTB said:

Which ones? 

AJ and JJ, seems to me that Nate has been artificially capping their minutes at 15 minutes.

[skimaskway23]

Trae is locked in tonight 

[JayBirdHawk]

FVV is food for Trae.

[JayBirdHawk]

Lol FVV...he pulled a Bogi.

[MaceCase]

Refs given the Hawks a couple of those lately.  

[JayBirdHawk]

Trae and Murray were Awesome.

 

[terrell]

35/10 from the backcourt in the 1st half.. Thats what Im talking about!!!

[JayBirdHawk]

Next up...duh duh duh...the 2nd half...where adjustments happen. What you got Nate.

 

 

 

[dalamchops]

Just now, JayBirdHawk said:

Next up...duh duh duh...the 2nd half...where adjustments happen. What you got Nate.

 

 

 

milk clock, iso trae and dj

[sturt]

 

 

[terrell]

1 minute ago, JayBirdHawk said:

Next up...duh duh duh...the 2nd half...where adjustments happen. What you got Nate.

 

 

 

Hopefully the bench clamps down during their 2nd half stretch the way they did in the 1st half.

No Bogi, so they have to play defense first and they did...

[JayBirdHawk]

9 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

FVV is food for Trae.

He's a full course meal for DJ. Lol

[NBASupes]

14 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

FVV is food for Trae.

Speak about regression 

[Spud2nique]

2 hours ago, lethalweapon3 said:

“My son met this fella at the Taco Truck outside and was absolutely blown away by his credentials and expertise!

So, team, it gives me great pleasure to introduce our new Head Team Physician...”

 

The Schedule Gods did our Atlanta Hawks no favors in this stretch. We’ll always have the first five games of October.

The business end of this road back-to-back has the Hawks trekking from Indianapolis to Canada. They’ll face the Raptors (7:30 PM Eastern, Bally Sports Southeast and 92.9 FM in ATL, TSN SportsNet in TOR), who had last night off after hosting and defeating Charlotte at Scotiabank Arena for the second time in three nights.

Nick Nurse’s club hasn’t had to play on consecutive evenings since December 19, and the four-game homestand that concludes today has allowed the Raps (19-23; 5-13 in the USA) to find their bearings. Meanwhile, it is not so much a stretch of 3-games-in-4 nights for the Hawks, but 3-in-3.75, with the pending MLK Day game tipping off around 3:30 in the afternoon.

Atlanta suffered their scariest losing margin of the season here, losing 139-109 while Fred Van Vleet was dressed as a ghost. The Hawks had their full starting contingent, but Justin Holiday was granted the most bench minutes, with Bogdan Bogdanovic still an unknown number of games away from playing.

The Hawks had one of the more satisfying conclusions of the season a few weeks later. Wiping out an 11-point deficit in the closing five minutes of regulation, Atlanta was gifted some missed bunnies from Scottie Barnes in the final seconds. Then, off-guard AJ Griffin caught Toronto off-guard, laying in the winning bucket off an inbound pass from Trae Young in a 124-122 thriller. A solid bench performance from AJ and Bogi can help a balanced Hawks team not only today, but on Monday afternoon.

Masai Ujiri and company ran out and nabbed a player from the champion Golden State Warriors in the offseason. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a healthy guy. Otto Porter (out for the season, dancing on a ceiling) will have season-ending foot surgery, it was announced earlier this week, after making it through eight games and a pair of starts sandwiched between the Hawks games.

Porter will have a chance to start fresh with the Raptors in 2023-24, armed with a player option. Not as likely to opt-in this summer is Gary Trent, Jr. (last 10 games: 24.2 PPG, 40.3 3FG%, 91.8 FT%, 1.9 SPG), who has been yo-yo’d in and out of Nurse’s starting lineups.

Nurse likes to jumbo-size the top-line unit, with either of Juan Hernangomez or Christian Koloko (using likely what was supposed to be Porter’s minutes), to aid Pascal Siakam, Barnes and OG Anunoby with the defensive rebounding duties, which has been a struggle against teams better than the Hornets.

But Toronto is at its best when it can live up to the TOs in its city name (NBA-bests of 12.1 team TO%, ahead of ATL’s 12.4%, and 17.4 opponent TO%), and don’t just settle for mid-range twos and contested threes in halfcourt sets (51.7 team 2FG%, 28^th in NBA; 33.0 team 3FG%; 29^th in NBA). Trent can be the catalyst that keeps Siakam and Fred Van Vleet from bogging the Raptor offense down.

Quality ball control by Trae Young, Dejounte Murray and Aaron Holiday against the stingy Raptors (5-1 when snaring more than 12 steals, incl. the Halloween game vs. ATL) will give the Hawks a puncher’s chance at stealing another road win. The Hawks haven’t won three consecutive away games since the oddball winter of 2021, when Atlanta flipped a seven-game road skid (they could only win at home) into a six-game winning run (they couldn’t win at home).

Atlanta kept the shorthanded Pacers in the running for victory last night by granting Benn Mathurin and sixth-man Jalen Smith ample trips to the free throw line. Making Siakam, FVV and Trent earn their points from the field (no cheap fouls!) and keeping Onyeka Okongwu (13 D-Rebs, 7 O-Rebs, 18 points and 4 blocks @ IND) and John Collins around to be difference-makers in the closing quarter keeps themselves in the running for the dub tonight.

I’ve got my mind on my MLK gamethread and MLK on my mind, so I’ll stop here.

 

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3

Thanks lw3 I’ll have to come back and reread this!  

 

I’ll never stop being a Hawks fan. NO MATTER WHAT! 
 

Hawks win tonight! F the tank lovers! And I don’t mean Frank. You know who you is.

[JayBirdHawk]

Trae playing defense with his nuts, lol

 

 

[benhillboy]

I been waiting 85 days, finally!

[JayBirdHawk]

Great start to the 3rd. Keep it up.

[JayBirdHawk]

Griff so smooth...love hearing the chords rip.

 

Finish the quarter strong.