The Atlanta Hawks were unable to follow their impressive victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers, falling to a one-sided defeat to the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday night at Smoothie King Center; 121-99. CJ McCollum led the Hawks with 14 points as seven Hawks scored in double-digits but could not crack 100 points for the first time this season. For the Pelicans, Saddiq Bey scored 25 points while Jeremiah Fears added 20 points.
The Hawks were dealt a bonus (on paper, at least) as Dejounte Murray
and Jordan Poole were ruled out prior to the game, while the Hawks were riding high after a narrow victory against the Cavaliers. Naturally, the Pelicans ran out to a double-digit lead and then threatened to run away the latter stages of the first quarter to extend their lead to 15 points by the end of the opening frame.
From there, the Hawks would never get the lead below 10 points, while the Pelicans lead stretched as high as 19 points in the second quarter, 20 points in the third quarter, and a game-high 28 points in the fourth quarter. That’s it, that is essentially this game in passing. The Hawks never made a run to get this game into single digits, never cracked the code offensively, and no Hawk scored more than 15 points as they shot 38.5% from the field as a team.
To put a finer lens on this game, the first quarter was definitive not just for the Pelicans to create their separation, but the themes that would carry on for the entire game. The Pelicans played with physicality last night, displacing the Hawks often, led initially by Zion Williamson (guarded by Dyson Daniels to begin this game before Lu Dort took this assignment) and then Bey, who was able to carve space for himself and hit his runners inside. This physical edge carried the Pelicans, who shot 7-of-17 from three, and had no need to rely on the three when they excelled as they did inside the paint:
The Pelicans scored 66 points in the paint, and the Hawks were unable to slow the Pelicans down inside the arc as the game continued.
The Hawks shot 2-of-11 from three in the first quarter, and this lack of shooting touch would stay with the Hawks for the remainder of the game, shooting 8-of-46 from three for 17%. The Hawks got some good looks from three but failed to convert with consistency.
A couple of examples, as Onyeka Okongwu misses an above the break three, a shot that is more than in Okongwu’s wheelhouse:
The Hawks move the ball around the perimeter and Nickeil Alexander-Walker misses the three-pointer:
Alexander-Walker in particular struggled, shooting 3-of-12 from the field and 0-of-7 from three.
The Hawks also settled at times in above the break threes, such as this shot from Jalen Johnson, settling for the three on Williamson:
The Pelicans didn’t make life easy for Johnson, and threw bodies when he got the ball on the block, such as this possession where three Pelicans are in place to converge on Johnson, whose pass is intercepted for a turnover:
Again, the Pelicans show Johnson an extra body on the block, but this time the pass out is successful, and Okongwu is able to score at the rim:
Johnson was able to get down the lane and finish at the rim a couple of times but was unable to make a big impact scoring, finishing with 13 points. This is possibly more disappointing in context as the Pelicans committed 23 turnovers on the game, with Johnson scoring just two points off of those turnovers — an area of the game Johnson can have a commanding presence.
While the Hawks scored 32 points off of those New Orleans turnovers, the Hawks committed 19 turnovers leading to 34 Pelicans points. To credit New Orleans, their hands were active all game long and they did really well to disrupt drives and send bodies in the right directions to come up with steals:
The Pelicans were just better in almost every way last night: they found a successful avenue inside the paint and kept going to it, they were active defensively, they were moving the ball and making the extra pass, they shot efficiently from the field on the 15 fewer shots they attempted than the Hawks, they attempted 35 free throws (making 28), four Pelicans outscored the highest scoring Hawk (McCollum), and despite committing more turnovers than Atlanta, New Orleans scored more points off of turnovers. They were just the significantly sharper team last night and the winning margin was most definitely a fair reflection of how the two sides respectively played.
Postgame, Hawks head coach Quin Snyder acknowledged the Hawks did not execute to begin the game, citing Atlanta turnovers which made life difficult defensively and communication issues which led to breakdowns.
“We haven’t started the game well from an execution standpoint,” said Snyder postgame. “I think we’re putting ourselves in tough positions offensively, and tonight that resulted in turnovers which were really tough to defend against. I thought we picked it up on the defensive end and were able to generate some things, but I think our collective focus on the ball changing sides of the floor, making better decisions offensively, and then defensively our communication when we were coming back, we had some breakdowns that I think we can clean up if we’re more connected and talk.”
In addition to getting hammered, the Hawks were dealt injury blows to Jock Landale (who played one minute before being ruled out with a left hip injury) and Jalen Johnson (left ankle) which impacted the rotation. Snyder’s focus was less so on who was on the floor and how the Hawks were connecting on it.
“Hopefully both those guys are going to be okay and not be out for too long, we’ll know more about that tomorrow and beyond” said Snyder of Landale and Johnson. “No matter who’s on the floor, us being more connected as a group, that’s been something we’ve talked about as a strength. Tonight, it was not only not a strength, it was something that we didn’t do well. Again, this team, as I’ve said, I think we want to be the best version of ourselves. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes games like this for you to really focus on the things you need to do to be successful.”
In Landale’s place, Asa Newell finally got to see some rotation minutes. Newell’s stint in the first half was a disaster; his first three shots were bricks, and that’s not an exaggeration — they were bad misses. The second half stint was considerably better, and Newell finished with 13 points on 5-of-11 shooting and 1-of-6 from three in 18 minutes. Depending on Landale’s injury and if he’s to miss time, Newell seems set to see some more minutes coming up, important minutes to try break into the rotation.
All in all, a poor game all around not just from a team perspective but from a player perspective too. You won’t win many NBA games shooting 8-of-46 from three while also committing 19 turnovers.
“I’d like to get in the gym and practice, our schedule hasn’t really allowed for that,” said Snyder postgame. “But we’ve got to just keep working. The good thing about the NBA is you get a chance to play again pretty quickly, so we’ve got a good night for the end of the day.”
The Hawks (3-4) are back in action on Monday night as their three-game road trip continues in Indiana (2-4).
Until next time!
