The Atlanta Hawks’ preseason adventure continued on Monday night as the Hawks took to State Farm Arena for the first time in the preseason.
However, the Hawks’ faithful will have to wait to see home debuts
for Kristaps Porzingis and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, the return of Jalen Johnson, and the assembly of the Hawks main roster as Trae Young, Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher, Johnson, Porzingis, Luke Kennard, and Onyeka Okongwu were all rested on Monday.
In their place, the lower reaches of the roster and camp invites got to see a larger role to showcase their talents, which saw the Hawks take the Miami Heat to overtime, overcoming a late deficit to take a 119-118 victory. Jacob Toppin led the scoring with 26 points, with Caleb Houstan adding 21 points including the game-winning three-pointer. For the Heat, they did run out some of their regulars in this game: Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Norman Powell scoring 17 points.
Normally when it comes to preseason and the final result of winning or losing the game — or, indeed, how the game was won or lost — is largely inconsequential, so it’s usually not something discussed in the aftermath. Preseason is a good time to focus on how players look next to each other, or in cases like last night to look at guys who wouldn’t normally get this opportunity.
However, since the game ended up going to overtime and ended up ending the way it did, let’s talk a little bit about the game itself.
The Hawks controlled proceedings in the first quarter, scoring 35 points and holding a lead as high as 13 points. That was as good as it got for the Hawks in terms of ease of scoring, because the second quarter saw the Hawks go scoreless for over five minutes as the Heat reeled off a 16-0 run to take the lead. The Hawks eventually recovered a rhythm and traded baskets for most of what remained of the game — only in the fourth quarter did the Hawks’ lead briefly extend to over five points.
The Hawks were sleepwalking towards what looked to be a certain victory, with Toppin taking it upon himself to lead the fourth quarter scoring and give the Hawks a seven-point lead with two minutes to go, 102-95. The Hawks’ offense coudn’t produce another basket to put the game away, nor keep the Heat out at the end of the game.
The Heat tied the game with this impressive layup by Myron Gardner, who beats Houstan off the dribble and finishes in traffic:
Despite the Hawks’ collapse, they still had an opportunity to win the game. The ever-active Lamont Butler puts up a jumpshot which misses, and rookie Asa Newell is unable to steer the ball home, and the buzzer sounds:
You can see what Newell is trying to do here on the offensive rebound, and it almost works out for him — he just couldn’t lift the ball high enough off the glass to score.
You don’t get to see too much overtime basketball in preseason (for good reason!), and I have to imagine the Hawks felt similarly as overtime was where the Heat took their first five-plus point lead of the entire game, running their lead up to seven points with just 1:10 remaining.
Butler would take two points out of that lead with two free throws, with Houstan bringing the lead back down to two point as he draws a foul on a three-point attempt, converting all three free throws. Coming out of a timeout, the Heat score to bring the lead back up to four which was quickly cut back to two with two Toppin free throws.
Finally (and I do mean ‘finally’ because this game lasted nearly three hours, madness for a preseason game), the Heat call for a timeout — a basket here effectively finishes the game. However, the Heat turn the ball over out of the timeout as Butler gets his hand on the ball from behind to force the steal. Butler then pushes, draws the defense and kicks the ball back to Houstan, who hits his fifth three of the night as State Farm celebrates:
“Great defense by Eli (Ndiaye) and Lamont,” said Houstan on the game-winner. “Lamont pushing the ball, my guy helped in. I thought I had an open shot, and I shot it.”
With no timeouts, the Heat push the ball up the floor and, off of a missed shot from Ethan Thompson, have about three extra attempts after the offensive rebound, eventually ending with a last-second heave from Gabe Madsen:
A very entertaining end, an ending the home faithful certainly deserved after enduring a, let’s be honest, pretty arduous preseason game whose best basketball evaporated after the first quarter. Not to mention the combined 56 fouls committed by the two teams.
Trivialities like that, however, mean little to the teams and players themselves, with Hawks head coach Quin Snyder commenting on the nature of professional basketball, irrespective of the setting or circumstance.
“Both teams are playing to win,” said Snyder of the game. “Doesn’t matter if it’s preseason, summer time — when you get guys out there that care, they play to win and want to make plays.”
Moving on to player talk from this game, there’s probably no better place to start than Hawks rookie Asa Newell. Newell scored 19 points on 7-of-18 shooting from the field, 0-of-6 from three, 5-of-9 from the free throw line in addition to eight rebounds, two assists, two steals, and two blocks in 36 minutes of action. His final percentage is tanked by those six missed threes, but inside the arc it was an efficient night’s work for Newell.
In transition, Newell runs the floor and gets into the paint, where he patiently works his way into an opening at the rim after he fakes Bam Adebayo off his feet before finishing with his left hand at the rim:
Again in transition, Newell runs the floor, fills his lane, and when he receives the ball he finishes with authority at the rim:
In the half-court offense this time, Newell relocates himself just inside the free throw line, and when he receives the ball he hits the hook through contact, drawing a foul and an ‘and-one’ play:
Newell would draw another such opportunity as he grabs the offensive rebound and scores the stick-back through contact:
Finally, off of a won jump ball by N’Faly Dante, Newell powers his way underneath the rim and eludes the defense to score at the rim, combining power and nimble footwork to get to the other side of the rim:
Newell’s play was encouraging to watch, and even his six missed threes was an encouragement to Snyder, showing him that Newell is able to read the defense and recognise which shots to let fly. Additionally, Snyder praised Newell’s ability to rebound the ball.
“Asa has been consistently put in situations that are new to him,” said Snyder of Newell postgame. “Whether it’s playing out on the perimeter defensively, offensively I love the fact he’s quickly reading and taking the shot when he’s open. I think he’ll begin to understand more situational basketball when he’s open, and he can make one more. You can see his instincts. There’s a lot to work on when you’re 19, but he’s got a lot to work with. He’s strong going up, he’s got such a nose for the ball on the glass.”
“I just felt like my circle has always told me to crash the boards as a big, that’s how you get paid,” added Newell of his rebounding.
Opportunities for Newell at State Farm Arena with the Hawks may be few and far between, certainly the 36 minutes he played will be more frequent with the College Park Skyhawks, but it was good to see Newell play well at home and with the time he got, and in a victory.
“I felt great playing in front of the fans for the first time as a Hawk,” said Newell. “Being able to get back out on the floor with a great OT win with my teammates.”
Leading scorer Jacob Toppin played 41 minutes but saw his shooting efficiency take a dip, scoring 26 points on 9-of-23 shooting from the field. Toppin was patient in waiting for his opportunity to handle the ball a little more, and when he did he tried to do what he does best: drive the ball.
“For me, it’s just point-five mentality, not trying to get stuck with the ball” said Toppin of his game. “If I see a driving lane I’m going to try take it and that’s what they gave me today. I was driving the ball, getting to the rim, and finishing.”
While it was inefficient at times, Toppin ultimately handled the scoring load and made plays when the Hawks needed them to win the game. Winning the game, Toppin believed, demonstrated the Hawks’ depth and determination.
“It showed our resilience,” said Toppin of the game. “We stayed together as a team when we faced adversity. It shows how deep our bench is, we have a lot of good guys and we came together and got the dub.”
More familiar rotation players Vit Krejci and Keaton Wallace didn’t feature for long periods last night: Krejci played 19 minutes, Wallace just 13 minutes. Krejci had the green light when he played, but only shot 2-of-8 from the field and 1-of-7 from three. Wallace was limited in this game due to an illness he had been fighting prior to the game and did not play the second half.
“Keaton tried to go, he was sick before the game and fought through it,” said Snyder postgame.
In Wallace’s place, Lamont Butler saw extended time, playing 37 minutes and scoring 18 points on 5-of-15 shooting, 3-of-7 from three, 5-of-6 from the free throw line to go along with six rebounds, five assists, three steals, and five turnovers.
Butler was extremely active from the get go, and it was hard to miss his presence throughout the game — both for good and bad at times. Overall, Butler was a plus-7 in his 37 minutes which I think is a fair reflection of his ultimate contribution last night on both ends of the floor. Snyder was certainly pleased with what Butler did with the opportunity.
“I thought Lamont was terrific on both ends, the way he competed. We know him, and I think a lot of him as a player and a person. It was good to see him get that opportunity and play the way that he did.”
Elsewhere, there was a block party at State Farm last night as the Hawks blocked 15 shots. There were some highlight blocks, including this block by Eli Ndiaye in transition:
There were blocks to be had up and down the roster but Charles Bassey led the way with five blocks, with this block one of the standouts:
Bassey also grabbed 17 rebounds, including nine offensive rebounds, and, postgame, Snyder praised his efforts and those of N’Faly Dante.
“Both of them gave us really good minutes,” said Snyder of Dante and Bassey. “Some of those guys have been in a position where they haven’t been playing that much. Good for them to get an opportunity, both of them were able to do some good things protecting the rim, rebounding, and finished pretty well in addition.”
All in all, a good showing for the Hawks and some of their young players. I’d say the biggest encouragament from this one is that Newell looked pretty good, minus the three-point shooting. Houstan’s shooting was good to see go down — along with the game-winner — and Bassey was fun to watch.
The Hawks wrap up their preseason on Thursday against the Houston Rockets at State Farm Arena. It’s impossible to say whether the Hawks’ regular rotation will be in action this time, but what is certain is that next Wednesday’s opening tip is creeping closer and closer. Excitement continues to build around the potential of the Hawks’ 2025-26 season.
Until next time!
