The Atlanta Hawks secured their first win of the 2025-26 regular season with a comeback victory against the Orlando Magic on Friday night at the Kia Center, 111-107. Trae Young led the Hawks with 25 points, while Nickeil Alexander-Walker added 19 points. For the Magic, Franz Wagner scored a game-high 27 points with Desmond Bane adding 15 points.
Heading into last night’s contest, the Hawks were forced to make two changes to the starting lineup as Kristaps Porzingis (flu-like symptoms) and Zaccharie
Risacher (right-ankle sprain) were ruled out prior to the game.
In their place Onyeka Okongwu stepped back into a familiar role as started at center, while Alexander-Walker stepped into the starting lineup. Immediately, this speaks to the Hawks’ depth that they can slot in two starting-caliber players off the bench.
Affairs were physical, with both sides getting into respective bodies; this was something that was attempted to be snuffed out by the refs, who played the whistle tightly throughout the contest. That didn’t stop the two division rivals going at each other or barking at each other — it was chippy throughout.
The basketball itself was slow at times, but it was the Hawks who ended the first quarter with a narrow margin, despite foul trouble for both Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu. It was in the second quarter where the Hawks’ offense really bogged down, and the Magic were able to put a double-digit distance between the two sides. The Hawks would spend most of the game chasing this lead, and it wasn’t until the back end of the third quarter when the Hawks really dug into this Orlando advantage.
Alexander-Walker deserves a lot of credit for keeping the Hawks hanging around in the third quarter, scoring 10 points in the third alone and just keeping the Hawks within that 10-12 point range. Alexander-Walker, while he very much struggled shooting the three (1-of-10), was excellent at getting into the paint and scoring around the rim, such as this play as he cuts the Orlando lead to nine points:
The Hawks’ run in the third would start just after this play — and after the Magic went back up by 11 points — as Mo Gueye proved important in this stretch, first hitting the three in the corner:
And then to follow-home an offensive rebound after Goga Bitazde blocks Luke Kennard at the rim:
Another basket by Young would cut the Magic lead to just four points, but between conceding a three-pointer (and the foul underneath the basket, leading to a four-point play) and a slow start to the fourth quarter saw the Hawks quickly back down by 11 points in the fourth quarter (93-81) with over nine minutes remaining.
It’s from this point forward where the Hawks flip the game on its head, proceeding to reel off a 15-0 run which would take the lead. It begins with a Keaton Wallace three-pointer and is added to by a drive by Kennard, which takes the Magic lead down to seven points. After Dyson Daniels and Young return to the game, as well as the introduction of Asa Newell, the Hawks continued to rally.
Young gets downhill and finds Newell in the corner, who hits the three-pointer and, with it, his first NBA points:
Daniels continues the Hawks’ run as he drives, spins, and hooks the shot over Wendell Carter Jr.:
The Magic missed a number of poor shots in this stretch, but this next play is fuelled by Daniels’ reach-around on Wagner for the steal, and ends with Daniels finding Young, who throws a beautiful alley-oop for Newell to tie the game:
Great patience there by Young to wait for Newell’s run, and then finds him with the oop. Great for Newell as well to be rewarded for his run down the floor and a great confidence boost for him coming off of that three just a moment prior.
After an Orlando timeout, the Magic miss on a three by Bane, and Young operates behind the screen and hits the deep three to complete the turnaround — a 15-0 run to turn a double-digit deficit into a lead in the fourth quarter:
The Hawks would build a five-point lead with 2:56 remaining behind two Jalen Johnson free throws; a lead that was erased by a Paulo Banchero three and two Carter Jr. free throws, tying the game at 105 with 54 seconds remaining.
The Hawks would take a timeout after these free throws, needing to come through in the clutch to emerge with a win in what, up to this point, had been a chippy and physical affair. The Hawks got exactly that as Young comes through as he gets separation from the persistent Jalen Suggs, and Young gets to the free throw line and hits the floater:
The Magic would make a quick reply, with Suggs driving by Young to score at the rim, around the contest of Okongwu:
A bit easy for Suggs at this time of the game. I thought Young had some good defensive moments in this game, but this was not one of them.
Young makes up for this possession as he draws the foul and free throws on a switch from Carter Jr., sending Young to the line where he hits both free throws to give the Hawks a 109-107 lead with 21 seconds remaining:
The Magic take a timeout, their last of the game, and have the choice to either take the best shot available to them — at the risk of leaving time on the clock for the Hawks — or take the last shot of the game and, at worst, go to overtime. The Magic chose neither of these things.
Daniels does a great job containing Bane, who has to deliver a messy pass to Banchero. Banchero, guarded by Gueye, must have believed he had a great chance to score with Gueye on him, and launches a three-pointer over him but misses, and the Hawks secure the timeout as Alexander-Walker and Gueye hit the floor:
A good defensive job by the Hawks here, but the overriding sentiment from this last play is what a horrid decision by Banchero. Not only was it an extremely opportunistic shot, but with the shot clock off and the amount of time remaining…
It’s just a terrible decision, no matter how confident he felt hitting that shot over Gueye. Following the timeout, the Hawks hit both free throws with Young and seal a fantastic road win to wash away some of the bad taste from the season-opener on Wednesday.
“Although the result in the first game wasn’t what we wanted, we got back and regrouped and you could tell the focus was there,” said Trae Young. “We got back to doing what we were preparing for all training camp and all summer. Even tonight, it’s just one game. We did what we needed to do, we beat a really good team tonight, we’ve got another one tomorrow. Just have to continue to take it day-by-day and one game at a time.”
Hawks head coach Quin Snyder was unhappy with the transition defense on Wednesday, and while conceding a few similar opportunities early in this game, Snyder was pleased with the job the Hawks did as the game progressed, as well as being pleased with the Hawks’ rebounding.
“As the game went on we did a much better job of not giving up easy baskets, and we rebounded really well as well,” said Snyder.
Asked about the third quarter run, the names that Snyder mentioned relating to that run weren’t the usual suspects; your Trae Young’s, Jalen Johnson’s etc. It was Asa Newell, Mo Gueye, Keaton Wallace, and Vit Krejci, who were on the floor at the time when the Hawks began their rally, before Young, Daniels, and Newell checked into the game to continue the run.
“Asa, Mo, Keaton, Vit those guys they put time in,” said Snyder. “Our coaching staff does a great job of teaching, and they’re competing too. They compete, that’s the biggest thing. Asa didn’t think, that’s a shot he’s been preparing to take for a while, he took it. Same thing with Mo. It’s telling that they both got their shots because it shows their teammates had confidence in them as well, and that gives you confidence.”
Newell only played three minutes and was a plus-9 in those three minutes, and while his role is naturally limited at this early stage in his career this mini-stint will be an encouragement to Newell.
As Snyder referenced, the confidence to shoot the ball with the one opportunity he got to shoot three is what you want to see, and running with a guard like Young is always bound to be rewarded. Young encouraged Newell to stay ready and praised his rookie teammate for his contribution last night.
“He didn’t have too good of a preseason but I told him to stay with it, stay focused, stay locked in, and when his number’s called we’re going to need him,” said Young of Newell.
“Tonight, he made two big plays; running down and got a dunk, and that was a big three he hit. A lot of people may think that’s an easy shot but sitting on the bench that long, not knowing if you’re even going to get in the game, that’s not easy. You’ve got to give the rook a lot of props.”
Mo Gueye saw more minutes in this spot, too, with Porzingis ruled out prior to the game. That, in addition to foul trouble for Onyeka Okongwu, saw big minutes for Gueye: 29 in total. Gueye scored 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting, 2-of-5 from three to go with six rebounds and three assists.
There were times last season where the idea of playing Gueye 29 minutes would just not have been feasible for the Hawks, but it’s a great credit to Gueye’s development that he was solid in that large playing time — a few bad turnovers here and there and some shots missed, but he was a positive overall in this game especially in that third quarter.
Like Newell, Gueye knows he just has to stay ready.
“Really just understanding my job, my role in the team” said Gueye postgame. “I know we got ‘KP’, an All-Star, NBA champion. Just be ready, today he was down, hopefully we get him tomorrow. Just be ready and know my role.”
Looking at other individual performances, it’s a tough spot for anyone to have an explosive night. The Magic are a great defensive team and their size and length makes life difficult, and so it proved to be the case. Jalen Johnson and Okongwu were limited by foul trouble but still contributed 12 points and 17 points respectively, in addition to their defensive contributions (Snyder was particularly praiseful of Johnson’s defense, especially in the fourth quarter with five fouls).
Dyson Daniels had a good start to the game but faded a little more offensively as the game went on, scoring six points on 3-of-7 shooting. Nickeil Alexander-Walker, as mentioned earlier, could not hit a three to save his life, but did save the Hawks’ life in this game with his ability to get toward the rim and score inside; especially in the third quarter.
Trae Young led all Hawks scorers with 25 points on an inefficient 7-of-18 from the field and 1-of-7 from three. However, as seen throughout Young’s career, he can contribute to his team even on poor shooting nights and this was no exception.
While Young’s six assists is below his normal standard, he shot 10-of-12 at the free throw line, including the clutch free throws at the end of the game, and several go-ahead baskets when the Hawks rallied.
Snyder was impressed with Young’s poise, especially in the face of the defensive challenge that Jalen Suggs brings to the equation — again, a very physical affair between the two guards; these two really get after each other.
“This is a game where he’s pressured the whole game,” said Snyder of Young. “I thought he kept his composure throughout the course of game. He was running in transition. I thought there were times we could’ve thrown ahead to him; he’s committed to that. That last six minutes, he’s in a position where that’s time for him to assert himself. I love that he drove the ball too; a guy in the lane, he hit a floater, got a foul. He managed the game as well as I’ve seen him manage a game late, just directing people where to go and our guys were listening to him. They were trying to get certain matchups, changing matchups. The poise that Trae showed in addition to his production, I think you saw that because of his poise. Suggs is one of the best defenders in the league, Trae got off the ball and used himself as a screener. So that recognition, to me, is really important.”
For the game as a whole, the Hawks did a great job in the second half limiting the Magic to just two three-pointers; an area of the game the Magic had separated themselves from the Hawks in the first half: shooting 7-of-16 in the first half compared to the Hawks’ 2-of-14 from three. The second half saw a reversal: 6-of-15 for the Hawks compared to 2-of-15 for the Magic.
The Hawks also did a great job limiting Paulo Banchero, who scored just 4-of-15 from the field. Johnson did a great job in this regard, but it’s really helpful for the Hawks that they can throw multiple defensive bodies at Banchero and this was huge in the greater context of securing this victory for the Hawks as Franz Wagner was able to have a very efficient scoring night, scoring 27 points on 10-of-17 from the field.
All in all, this was a great response for the Hawks. This was a physical, chippy affair, and there’s definitely some animosity between these two teams. Not only did the Hawks suffer a loss in the play-in against the Magic, but both teams here are expected to take big leaps in a weakened Eastern Conference this season.
Both teams played as though they wanted to show that they wanted that spotlight; this game felt like a battle, it felt personal. And it’s only going to get more personal as the season goes on, playing each other three more times this season. If last night’s game was anything to go by, these two sides will provide great entertainment this season.
For last night at least, a great Hawks comeback and execution to end the game; a good note to start in clutch situations led by Trae Young.
Next up for the Hawks (1-1) is a home tilt against the Oklahoma City Thunder (2-0) at State Farm Arena. The Thunder are carrying some early injuries and have played, already, in two double overtime games to start the season. There’s, usually, never a great time to play the defending champions this early in the season, but if there was…
Until next time!
