Peachtree Hoops: Hawks limp into All-Star break with loss to Hornets

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Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

A poor loss to finish the first ‘half’ of the season.

The Atlanta Hawks ended their first ‘half’ of the NBA season with a convincing loss to the Charlotte Hornets at Spectrum Center on Wednesday night, 122-99.

De’Andre Hunter led the Hawks with 21 points off the Atlanta bench with Jalen Johnson adding 19 points. For the Hornets, Brandon Miller scored 26 points with Tre Mann adding 21 points.

It's difficult to contextualize this game without overreacting in some capacity. ‘Worst loss of the season’ is immediately in play because on one hand, given the opponent — despite the absences of centers Clint Capela and Onyeka Okongwu — you would have expected the Hawks to come into Charlotte and roll the Hornets with both teams hoping to trend in opposite directions as the Hawks try to make the play-in and the Hornets head further to the depth of the lottery. However, this particular fixture in Charlotte has proved to be a trap game in the past, and so it was last night once again.

The Hawks fell behind by double digits early but a strong end to the first quarter saw them not only rally but take a lead into the second quarter. A strong start by Johnson in this game helped keep the Hawks very much in the game in the first half, but as the game began to extend, so did the Hornets' lead. The Hornets began to pull away in the third as they not only re-established their double-digit advantage but began to threaten to take the game into a blowout.

In the fourth quarter, this eventually turned into the reality of affairs as the Hornets sailed to a comfortable victory, their third in a row (their longest streak of the season) as well as their first double-digit victory of the season...that they won by 23 points.

Astonishing.

Postgame, Hawks head coach Quin Snyder's comments were brief and centered largely around one aspect: competing.

“Obviously we didn’t shoot the ball well and that can cover up some things, but we just needed to compete more,” said Snyder. “It’s disappointing because we’ve been doing that. Whether we left early for the break, whatever you want to attribute it to, we can’t do that. We have to compete. We had some individual guys who did that but collectively that was not the case.”

“We have to compete,” Snyder reaffirmed. “That competing, that’s linear, not linear, not flat. There’s no geometry you attribute to that, we just have to compete collectively. If we don’t do that then it’s going to feel like it does right now.”

The Hawks shot 40% from the field to the Hornets’ 49%, but where they particularly undone was from the perimeter. The Hornets made 15-of-37 from three for 40%, whereas the Hawks were 9-of-38 for 23.7%. There were a few players were who efficient from three (such as Bogdan Bogdanovic’s 2-of-5, Hunter’s 2-of-4), but it was another tough night for the Hawks’ starting backcourt of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray.

Having also struggled against the Bulls shooting the three, Young (1-of-8) and Murray (2-of-7) combined for 3-of-15 from three in Charlotte and both shot 33% from the field. Bogdanovic and Hunter igniting against the Bulls helped keep the Hawks in the game for a while, but with no such ignition from any Hawk, along with the continued struggles of Young and Murray carrying over into this game as well, the Hawks were going to be up against it offensively — and that proved to be the case Wednesday night. Simply put, they need Young and Murray to be better offensively.

The Hawks committing 16 turnovers also did not help — off of which the Hornets scored 15 points — but also used some of these opportunities to turn into transition offense, scoring 21 points.

For instance, Murray’s carefree pass is intercepted by Mann, who scores at the other end for the transition break:

Another instance on this possession where Bogdanovic’s pass inside is intercepted by Grant Williams, who pushes the pace and finds Nick Richards for the basket:

As was the case with the Chicago game, the Hawks allowed a very high percentage of shots at the rim, the Hornets making 73% of their shots at the rim last night:

The Hawks were forced to start Bruno Fernando at center with Capela still sidelined with a left adductor strain and Okongwu ruled out with a left toe sprain. Fernando...did not exactly excel. There are issues when he is on the floor. There were a couple of possessions where Fernando just wasn’t on the wavelength of Young or Murray, including this play:

But when Fernando is off of the floor there is zero chance at the rim defensively for the Hawks.

When Fernando was off the floor, Johnson played the five, and this was problematic at times as Williams takes advantage of a lapse of concentration from Johnson and scores at the rim:

Saddiq Bey as a help defender also never bodes well for helping at the rim.

Again, not a trace of help defense when Murray and Young are put through the pick-and-roll at the top:

Once more, there’s no help defense here at the rim once Johnson is taken out of equation (though, you could argue he maybe should have switched in a few instances here), and the Hornets score at the rim:

It was pretty simple for the Hornets all things considered. Not as easy as the Bulls, who found their way to the rim, but 73% isn’t much worse than 78% to go with 15 threes? That’s an easy way to create separation.

There’s little positive to say about this game — just a horrid loss all around here for the Hawks, and there’s no good way to spin it. And I think the Hawks were just thankful for the final buzzer and the much needed break. Johnson had a good first half (13 points) and Hunter got back to the free throw line for another seven free throws as he scored an efficient 21 points (6-of-12 from the field and 2-of-4 from three).

Positives outside of that? You’re reaching for straws at best. Two minutes for Kobe Bufkin? That’s about where we’re at with things, and that’s a tough place to be.

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The Hawks (24-31) are back in action on Friday, February 23rd when they’ll take on the Toronto Raptors (19-36) at State Farm Arena.

A lot of head scratching will be done over the break, I’m sure, as the Hawks gear up for the final push to the finish line.

Until next time...

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