The Atlanta Hawks notched their fifth straight victory — finishing 4-0 on their Western Conference road trip — as they produced a memorable comeback to topple the, similarly, rolling Phoenix Suns (winners
of five straight games prior to last night) 124-122 on Sunday night. Onyeka Okongwu led the Hawks in scoring with 27 points, Nickeil-Alexander Walker scored 26 points (including 16 in the fourth), and Jalen Johnson added 25 points and 10 rebounds. For the Suns, Dillon Brooks scored 34 points, Devin Booker added 27 points.
On the final game of this trip, against a Suns side which has found great form at home, this was likely to be one of the more challenging games on the trip, but the Hawks began well out of the gates behind a 17-11 opening stint in an evenly contested affair in the first quarter.
It was in the second quarter where the Hawks began to open up an advantage, extending their lead to double-digits. This advantage was short-lived, as the Suns immediately responded to reign that gap in and would take the lead to halftime behind a 21-7 run. A flagrant foul deemed to be committed by Johnson on Brooks earned Phoenix free throws before rookie Collin Gillespie earned two more free throws to give the Suns a one-point lead at the half.
For much of the third quarter the game was a closely contested affair, with the Suns eventually edging out a lead, which quickly ballooned into double digits and beyond behind what was a fairly woeful Hawks lineup and production to close the quarter — Keaton Wallace, Dyson Daniels, Vit Krejci, Mo Gueye, and Okongwu. That lineup just had nothing going for it as a unit last night — it was really poor — and the Phoenix lead got completely out of control behind a 26-4 run. The fourth quarter saw the Phoenix lead grow to a game-high 22 points, the hosts in complete control and feeling good, getting themselves and the crowd fired up.
The Hawks stabilized in the fourth and behind, in particular, Alexander-Walker and Risacher began to chip away at the lead with a three from Risacher bringing the lead down to 15 points and a Suns timeout.
Out of the timeout, Risacher gets his hands on the ball to steal it from Gillespie, and attacks the rim in transition and scores, but Risacher cannot hold on to the rim, and his momentum flips him over, resulting in a nasty fall. Fair warning, this is a pretty rough watch, it’s a scary, hard impact from a very vulnerable position in the air with velocity; even my stomach lurched watching this.
Risacher was officially ruled out of the remainder of the game with a left hip contusion but was able to walk away under his own steam. In the meantime, the Hawks still faced a double-digit deficit to overcome, and seeing one of their teammates go down like this could’ve disrupted the run they were already on. It didn’t. In fact, the Hawks took it to another level, with Alexander-Walker sharing postgame with Matt Winer that seeing Risacher go down like that only inspired them, led by calls by Jalen Johnson.
“Shoutout to Zacch, he gave us a big lift,” said Alexander-Walker. “Seeing one of our brothers go down like that, JJ said ‘Yo, we got to pick it up and the set the tone right here.”
Side note before we carry on, Dillon Brooks is called for a technical foul during all of this, as the Hawks — led by head coach Quin Snyder near-sprinting off the bench — tend to Risacher under the basket… It begs the question of was so pressing as to gripe with the officials in this moment after what had just happened?
The Suns’ bench all recoiled when the play happened. Everyone knew it was a bad fall, and the wellbeing of Risacher being the most important thing to attend to in that moment. Really poor from Brooks, but perhaps not unexpected.
The Hawks hit the technical free throw to bring the lead down to 12 points, and the Hawks kept fighting: Okongwu hit a three, Krejci hit a three after great ball movement, and Alexander-Walker converted an ‘and-1’ play to cap a 20-0 run to bring the Hawks within a point of the lead at 107-106. The Suns finally put some points back on the board to run their lead back to five, but a four-point play from Alexander-Walker in the corner slashes that lead promptly:
Good ball movement from the Hawks here, and a great play from Okongwu to drive, recognize not just the charge attempt he was about to be drawn into on the drive but to spot the open Alexander-Walker in the corner, who does a great job to convert.
The Hawks would get another opportunity for an ‘and-1’ play a possession later, as Daniels takes advantage of Booker looking the other way, getting a head start on the drive and finishing at the rim plus the foul:
Brooks manages to fall and rollover, somehow, on this play. The screen from Okongwu is legal, and Brooks tries to shove himself in between Okongwu and Johnson, and I think embellishes the contact, and then complains about it. His complaints are ignored, and Daniels converts the three-point play.
Another Booker basket in the fourth puts the Suns back up by three, more great ball movement from Atlanta — with all five players involved — ends with Daniels finding Alexander-Walker inside the free throw line hitting the jumper:
Alexander-Walker holds his ground on the other end of the floor, keeping Brooks in front of him for much of the shotclock, only bested by an illegal hook which Brooks does not get away with, resulting in a turnover and possession back to the Hawks after determined defense from Alexander-Walker:
The Hawks would then re-take the lead, behind Daniels’ 12th assist of the night as he finds Okongwu for the alley-oop:
Whether by design or not, the Hawks got good diversion here as Okongwu’s and Alexander-Walker’s paths crossed, leaving Okongwu free to drift to the rim, and the execution from Daniels here to quickly spot the opportunity deserves credit for a player who, in the NBA, has not been a point guard by nature.
Brooks puts the Suns ahead briefly, before Alexander-Walker rejects the screen and drives to the rim, finishing over Booker and evading the shot-blocker:
Booker looks as though he’s going to get set in position and draw the charge, having sprinted over away from Krejci to get to the lane. Yet, between both Alexander-Walker and Booker turning, adjusting their bodies, the charge never occurs when it looked like it was set to be taken.
The Hawks finally get the stop in the clutch they need, as Gilespie’s drive is well defended by Daniels, and the Hawks — eventually — secure the rebound through Okongwu, who outlets the ball to Johnson. Booker fouls Johnson from behind, sending him to the free throw line:
Confusing from the Suns and Booker here. The shot clock was not off for the Hawks, meaning that, should the Suns secure the rebound, they would have had time remaining with the ball. This reach from Booker was not just optimistic, but ill-advised — they did not have to do this.
Johnson — and then Okongwu, sandwiched by a Booker basket — dispatch their free throws, giving the Hawks a 123-120 lead with 10 seconds remaining. Daniels appears content to foul Booker, sending him to the line and ensuring the Suns don’t get a chance at a three. He hits both and the Hawks call a timeout, out of which Johnson gets the ball to Okongwu, who hugs the ball but is tied up by Booker and a jump ball is called:
While Okongwu probably hadn’t anticipated to be put in a situation where he would be given the ball to hit another two important free throws, his reaction to receiving the ball is puzzling. There’s a window in which he can get the ball to Alexander-Walker, but even ignoring that his instinct is remain still and just hug the ball? It was an odd one, but he needn’t have worried too much as he would’ve been favored in a jump ball situation versus Booker, with Booker committing a violation anyways and handing the ball to Atlanta.
This time, Alexander-Walker does receive the ball, and while he splits the pair of subsequent free throws the Suns have no timeouts and a half-court heave is missed to the relief of the Hawks, who secure a quality comeback victory in the fourth quarter.
After the Suns outscored the Hawks 37-20 in the third quarter, and edging to a 22-point lead in the fourth, the Hawks scored 47 points in the final period (47-27) behind 64% shooting from the field, 50% from three, and 11-of-13 from the free throw line — a stark contrast, a game of two halves within the second half itself.
It was a rush that Nickeil Alexander-Walker took with him postgame.
“The adrenaline is unbelievable right now,” said Alexander-Walker postgame. “Going on the road, going down like that but it was a lot of fun, for sure. It was cool to see everyone come get it. One thing I can say, down 20 when they went on the run and the crowd got into it and having fun, no one really gave up on each other or start going places mentally. We just talked about what we needed to do, and the mindset was ’just chip away.‘ I don’t think I looked at the scoreboard until the last two minutes just the mindset of ‘play hard, one possession at a time.’ I think over time, with that mentality, it allowed us to prevail.”
Coach Snyder was asked about the third quarter, contrasting the fortunes between the third and fourth quarters where the Hawks made their comeback, praising the Hawks’ ‘competitive endurance.’
“We’ve talked about it being a game of runs and trying to limit those runs,” said Snyder of the third quarter. “I thought defensively we broke down. They were scoring on every possession. The flip side of that is when the fourth quarter started, it would’ve been really easy — fourth game of a road-trip, down 18, 20 — to capitulate on some level. That didn’t happen. That shows the competitive endurance we’ve been talking about, and credit to our guys that’s a unique game to be on the road and have that happen, get blitzed like that in the third and then respond the way we did.”
“Coach tells us all the time, competitive endurance,” added Dyson Daniels. “It’s going to be a game of runs. They had a bit of a run we couldn’t stop at the end of the third quarter, fourth quarter was coming back and competing and playing the same way. We came out, we fought, defended hard, got out in transition, got the game back on our terms. Once we got the momentum rolling it was hard to stop us.”
One aspect that swung the game in the Hawks’ favor were points off of turnovers, of which the Hawks scored 29 points off of 17 Phoenix turnovers, including 19 fastbreak points helped by 11 steals.
As you’d imagine, Dyson Daniels played a role in this as he pokes the ball from behind Booker to create the turnover, before Risacher finds Johnson in transition after a great screen by Daniels:
Another steal by Daniels sets up the opportunity to lead the charge himself this time, finding Johnson again in transition for the basket:
A steal by Alexander-Walker fuels another fastbreak opportunity for the Hawks, and Alexander-Walker himself finishes in transition:
Risacher also gets in on the action, intercepting the pass out to the perimeter, and again finds Jalen Johnson, who finishes at the rim, plus the foul:
Both Risacher and Alexander-Walker finished with two steals, drawing praise from Snyder postgame.
“Zacch got us going,” said Snyder. “He had a couple of steals and got out in transition. Nickeil is a battler. He’s a tough guy who loves to compete. We’ve been talking about going to the rim, getting in the paint and having their our out and they found each other. When the rim was there, they finish. Our defensive level rose up and it kept us aggressive on the offensive end. We shared the ball and a lot of good things — that’s they way we want to play. We want to defend, run, play with the pass, be unselfish and trust each other. You saw all those things in the fourth quarter.”
The Hawks were asked about Risacher postgame, whose fall certainly seemed to be a turning point in the Hawks’ continued push to tear into the Suns’ lead.
“He kickstarted it (the run) with his defense, ” said Alexander-Walker of Risacher. “He had a steal that led to the dunk, and a scary unfortunate play. JJ was the first to say something as soon as it happened. ‘Let’s go get this win for Zacch. Let’s make sure it’s not for nothing.‘ That speaks volumes when that’s the mentality after something like that. To be the next man up but to want to do it for each other.”
“That was a crucial part of the game, when Zacch went down” added Daniels of Risacher’s fall. “He was playing really well for us on both ends of the floor. It was a scary fall and I’m glad he’s alright. The guys used that as motivation coming back in the huddle and talk to each other and to say the game is not over and let’s keep fighting, and that’s what we did.”
“We knew what we needed to do in the fourth quarter,” said Johnson postgame. “When Zacch went down, we knew we needed to buckle in even more; we wanted to win that for him. It was a good team win, fun basketball to be a part of. Hell of a fourth quarter from O, and Nickeil. It was a great team win.”
Ultimately, this was a game won by the starters. A number of the bench unit let the Hawks down, scoring just 20 points. Mo Gueye ran into early foul trouble and was limited to 10 minutes, Luke Kennard struggled to make an impact on the game (but, to be fair, could have been utilized more), and Keaton Wallace in particular was poor — a minus-25, and, perhaps no surprise, he was not seen at all in the fourth after the horror show to end the third quarter.
Alexander-Walker, Okongwu, Johnson, and Daniels played either the entirety, or mere seconds off, the entire fourth quarter, with Risacher on his way to do the same before his fall. In the end, Johnson played 39 minutes, Okongwu 37 minutes, Daniels 36 minutes, and Alexander-Walker 35 minutes.
However, each of these players were extremely productive.
Okongwu led the scoring with 27 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field, 3-of-9 from three, four rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks. Okongwu’s drives were encouraging to watch, and other than his late blunder leading to the jump ball he was excellent. Johnson finished with 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field, 2-of-3 from distance, 10 rebounds, and seven assists. Johnson was so efficient scoring the ball, excelling again in transition and getting to the rim. He was a leader both with his play and his voice after Risacher went down;
Johnson was excellent again and leading the Hawks, and with them his own All-Star campaign. Alexander-Walker led the charge in the fourth quarter with 16 points en route to 26 points on 9-of-18 shooting, coming up with play after play in the final period to spearhead the Hawks’ comeback.
Finally, Daniels scored 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting (his only missed shot, shock, a three!) to go with 12 assists and seven rebounds, with three steals. Daniels played the point guard role, along with Alexander-Walker, excellently, in addition to adding the defense he does on a nightly basis.
Combined, the Hawks rallied and without one of them victory would not have been possible — those four carried the Hawks last night, with Risacher and Krejci having an impact around them (Risacher much more so, of course, scoring 15 points on 6-of-13 shooting).
As Snyder referenced, it would have been easy for the Hawks to give up at the start of the fourth down 22 points. They’d just taken the blow the Suns dealt, and they’ve already won three games on this trip — not many would have begrudged them if they had gone on to lose. 3-1 is still a good road-trip, even if the opposition isn’t the strongest.
The Hawks chose to fight on and were given even further life after Risacher went down. Added to that, the Hawks caught the Suns with time to spare, and the Suns even pushed the lead back out to five. The comeback to take the lead wasn’t mutually exclusive to the clutch plays — those came after the initial comeback. The Hawks deserve a lot of credit for this one, and move into what has previously been unfamiliar territory for a number of seasons:
While the Hawks will be happy to return home, what awaits them at State Farm Arena on Tuesday night will be far tougher than what they faced on the road. The 11-2 Detroit Pistons will be coming to town on the second night of a back-to-back, though, this is not the benefit you might think it is as their game tonight is against the 1-12 Indiana Pacers in Detroit. The Hawks are on a good winning streak with five games, but the Pistons are on a nine game streak, likely 10 heading into State Farm Arena on Tuesday.
It should be a good contest! Until next time!
