On the heels of an offseason deemed as the “best in the NBA” by the league’s general managers, the Atlanta Hawks got stomped in their season opener on Wednesday night, losing by 20 points to the Toronto Raptors in a game that was basically over by the 10:00 mark of the 4th quarter.
Trae Young finished with 22 points and five assists, however he shot just 5-for-14 from the floor and just 1-for-7 from the perimeter (11-for-13 at the free-throw stripe). Defensively, he struggled against a physical group
of Raptors guards.
Jalen Johnson put up 22 points (7-for-13 from the floor), 8 assists and seven rebounds in his first regular season minutes since January. Kristaps Porzingis finished with 20 points (5-for-12 from the floor, 4-for-7 from three), seven rebounds and two blocks in his Hawks debut.
Zaccharie Risacher briefly exited the game in the third quarter with an ankle injury but returned shortly after, and finished with 16 points (7-for-13 from the floor, 2-for-6 from three) in 21 minutes. Nickeil Alexander-Walker shot just 2-for-15 from the floor in his Hawks debut, but redeemed himself with an outstanding showing on the defensive end of the floor (despite the final scoreline). Dyson Daniels had a game to forget, getting into foul trouble early on, finishing with four points, two assists, and three turnovers (five fouls) in 23 minutes.
Meanwhile it was a balanced offensive attack for Toronto, with seven players finishing in double digits. RJ Barrett led all scorers with 25 points on 9-for-12 shooting. Scottie Barnes finished with 22 points, nine assists and six rebounds.
While Toronto led for the majority of the night, this was a competitive game in the first half. Atlanta closed the second quarter on a 13-6 run to cut the Raptors lead to 65-59, and the home team had some momentum heading into the halftime break. Unfortunately, it all came apart in the 3rd quarter. Atlanta were outscored 45-28 in the period, providing no resistance on the defensive end of the floor as Toronto shot 14-for-19 from the field (12-for-12 in the restricted area) and 16-for-18 from the free-throw line.
The Raptors led 110-87 after three quarters and never looked back, dealing Atlanta a harsh reminder that wins are earned – not given – in the NBA.
All in all, Atlanta were outscored 86-56 in points in the paint. They were outscored 34-11 in fastbreak points, and were outrebounded 54-34, with Toronto holding a slight edge in second-chance points as well.
Quin Snyder struck a disappointed figure after the game, saying:
“Toronto played hard. They ran. Anytime you give up 30+ fastbreak points and you couple that with 86 points in the paint. They were getting in there a lot of different ways but I think transition, having urgency to get back, you start there. If you don’t get back and give teams easy baskets in transition it’s going to be tough to do anything after that.”
“On some level, games like this, you know they’re going to come in some capacity. It’s tough to have this on your home opener. The enthusiasm that we have needs to get channeled correctly into the things that are going to help us win games. For our team, we know what those things are, but they require focus and they require work. Tonight we felt the level that we have to work on. If we don’t do that, this is the result that we get.”
Trae Young, true to character, didn’t sugarcoat things in his postgame presser:
“I don’t think there’s too many positives you can take from tonight. Obviously the result was what it was and it’s embarrassing the way we started it. A lot of it comes from the preseason, obviously it carried over, we didn’t play all five of us, and you could tell by the continuity we had out there and it wasn’t right. But that’s the part of the NBA, the cream always rises to the top. So we got some time to make it up and we got to get going.”
“A lot of it is on us. Transition defense is on us… we gotta be better as a team and understand that’s what the scouting report is, teams think they can get a lot of transition points on us so they’re – even when we’re scoring – they’re grabbing the ball and throwing it full court. Guys are leaking out. If we’re missing like we did tonight, they’re able to get out and get in transition. Obviously we have to be better about making shots, that cuts out transition defense. But at the same time if we do miss, we gotta get back regardless. It doesn’t matter if we miss or make, we gotta get back and that’s on us as the players because [coach] has definitely emphasized that especially after the last preseason game.”
The Hawks will have a chance to right the ship and earn their first win of the season on Friday in a road tilt against the Orlando Magic. Below are a few takeaways from Atlanta’s season opener. Let’s get to it.
Paint Defense Was A Catastrophe
Neither team shot the ball well from the outside in this one, with Toronto going 6-for-25 (24%) from three and Atlanta just 10-for-35 (29%), however the story of the night was the Hawks getting outscored 86-56 in the paint. The 86 paint-points they allowed was a staggering number, ranking as the sixth-most points in the paint conceded by an NBA team over the past three seasons. Not great, Bob!
In terms of how Toronto got there, it was a mix of transition leakouts and poor half-court defense. The Raptors turned 10 steals into 18 points (1.8 points-per-possession) and really made an effort to push the pace off Atlanta’s misses, turning 49% of their ‘live’ defensive rebounds into a transition possession, scoring 1.31 points per possession (ppp) on these possessions per cleaningtheglass.
In the half-court, the Hawks just couldn’t contain Toronto’s drives.
Dyson Daniels being in foul trouble for the majority of the contest didn’t make life easier for Atlanta on the defensive end but even so, the Hawks have to show more fight on this end of the floor. The defensive woes were a major talking point in the postgame press conference, and it’s going to be interesting to see how they respond against Orlando on Friday.
Mixed Bag for the New Additions
Atlanta made waves over the summer when they added Kristaps Porzingis, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Luke Kennard to their roster, and while all three players showed flashes of their ability, Hawks fans will be hoping that the best is yet to come for their new additions after their regular season debuts.
Starting with Porzingis, while his final numbers were decent, it (understandably) still seems like he’s feeling out his role in the offense. The Unicorn scored 20 points in 26 minutes, but shot 5-for-12 from the floor (6-for-6 from the free-throw stripe), and went just 1-for-5 from inside the arc. He is an expert at destroying mismatches in the post, but perhaps due to Toronto’s size, it seemed like Atlanta had a hard time getting him switched onto smaller defenders in this contest.
Porzingis did hit four threes – two in transition and two in the half-court – and I especially enjoyed the setup on this play in the fourth quarter. Young and Johnson occupy the defense’s attention running a pick-and-roll at the top of the key while Porzingis comes off a baseline screen for a catch-and-shoot corner three.
I’m excited to watch Porzingis find his footing in Atlanta’s offense as the season progresses.
As for Alexander-Walker, it was a dismal shooting night for the former Timberwolf, finishing with 10 points on a measly 2-for-15 shooting effort. That said, I absolutely loved the energy he played with on the defensive side of the ball. He is a certified pest who seems to raise the level of his teammates with his effort and aggression. His impact on this end goes beyond the box score, though I thought it was notable (even though we’re dealing with miniscule sample sizes here) that Atlanta posted a defensive rating of 100 in his 28 minutes of action – the best mark amongst the top-eight.
Alexander-Walker will shoot better, though he might do well to reign in the shot selection. If he can improve the offense and keep up the level of defense he showed in the preseason and against Toronto, the 4-year/$60-million contract he signed last summer will begin to look like a steal.
Lastly, Luke Kennard was the least impressive of Atlanta’s new signings in the opener. He finished with six points (2-for-7 shooting, 1-for-5 from three), three assists and three turnovers in 30 minutes and wasn’t particularly impactful on either end of the floor.
Kennard was never projected to be an above average defender, but even so, he really struggled on that end last night. In particular, lineups with Kennard and Young together have a lot of scope for improvement, as they were smoked on the defensive end (144.7 defensive rating) in their 17 minutes on the court together against Toronto.
On the offensive end, I’d like to see Kennard be more aggressive from beyond the three-point arc. The box score shows he took five threes last night, but three of them (including his lone make) came in the last eight minutes, when the game was well out of reach. If Atlanta can find a way to get him going earlier in the contest, it will give the defense another threat to account for, making the overall offense more difficult to guard. Kennard has the ability, he just has to let it fly within the flow of the offense.
Jalen Johnson: Good at Basketball
While it was a disappointing performance from the Hawks last night, one bright spot was the play of Jalen Johnson, Atlanta’s 23 year-old rising star playing in his first regular season game since his season-ending shoulder injury back in January. Johnson finished with 22 points on 7-for-13 shooting, eight assists and seven rebounds and was back to his usual tricks – killing the defense with his off-ball movement and transition drives.
Of course, it would not be a Jalen Johnson game without him throwing some outrageous passes, and he certainly had his fair share of impressive dimes last night.
While it was an impressive showing from Johnson, the one area he needs to improve this season is his outside shooting ability. He went 0-for-2 last night, and if he can start to knock these down with any level of consistency, it will help raise Atlanta’s offensive ceiling even higher.
I said it in preseason, I’ll say it again – and I’ll probably keep saying it as the season goes on. It’s an absolute pleasure watching Jalen Johnson play basketball. It’s great to have him back.
Take a deep breath Hawks fans. There’s a ton of basketball left to be played. This is a young team, and growth isn’t linear. Watching a team as talented as this one build chemistry, find their groove and unlock their full potential is one of the most enjoyable parts of being a fan – no matter the sport. I’m excited to see how this team evolves over the next 81 games.
