The Atlanta Hawks secured a victory on the first outing of their four-game West Coast road trip, beating the Los Angeles Clippers 105-102 on Monday night.
Vit Krejci poured in eight three-pointers en route
to a career-high 28 points (9-for-13 shooting, 8-for-10 from three) to lead the way for Atlanta. Kristaps Porzingis added 20 points (5-for-12 shooting, 1-for-5 from three). Jalen Johnson turned in an all around performance with 16 points (7-for-16 shooting, 0-for-3 from three), 10 rebounds and eight assists.
The Hawks survived a monster game from James Harden, who finished with 35 points (12-for-23 shooting, 6-for-14 from three), 11 assists and 10 rebounds – his first triple double of the season.
Neither team was at full strength for this one, with Nickeil Alexander-Walker joining Trae Young on the Hawks injury report for the second straight game. Meanwhile, the Clippers were missing Kawhi Leonard and Bradley Beal.
Not for the first time this season, Atlanta found themselves in a double digit hole early on in this one. They couldn’t find their rhythm offensively, managing just 10 points on their first 16 possessions, and trailed 29-19 by the end of the first quarter.
Atlanta shot just 1-for-8 from three and struggled to contain the Clippers on the glass in the opening frame, with Los Angeles scoring eight points off of five offensive rebounds in the first 12 minutes.
Atlanta’s struggles continued into the second quarter, with Los Angeles extending their lead to 17 points at the 9:25 mark after this transition lay-in from Kris Dunn.
It looked like it was going to be a long night for the Hawks. Then Vit Krejci happened.
In the blink of an eye, the soft-spoken Czech point-forward racked up nine points and an assist, leading Atlanta on a 14-3 run (including back-to-back-to-back three-pointers!) to get them back in the game, forcing Clippers coach Ty Lue to call for time.
Atlanta didn’t let up out of the time out. They pushed the pace at every opportunity against the slowest team in the league, with this steal from The Great Barrier Thief leading to a transition three from Krejci (his fourth three-point bomb of the quarter) to put Atlanta ahead 42-41 with 4:00 to play in the half.
After a back and forth end to the second quarter, the two sides headed to the locker-room knotted at 52 – frankly incredible considering how cold the Hawks offense was to start the game. Krejci had 17 points at the break (tying his previous season-high), and was responsible for five of Atlanta’s six three-point makes in the half.
Despite both sides going on double-digit runs in the first 24 minutes, neither team was able to pull away in the third quarter. Vit kept the heater going, knocking down this triple off the give-and-get with Okongwu, and Atlanta clung to a three point lead heading into the final frame.
The Hawks came out firing in the fourth, with four different players scoring on their first four possessions of the period, and they led by 10 after this bucket from Jalen Johnson.
LA wouldn’t go away though, with James Harden (19 points and two assists in the fourth quarter) coming alive to help keep them in the game. The former MVP did it all for Los Angeles in crunch time, scoring or assisting on all of the Clippers points over the final 10 minutes of the contest.
A 13-3 Clippers run (aided by some sloppy turnovers from Atlanta) knotted the game at 92 with five minutes to play, before another three-ball from Vit gave Atlanta a lead that they would not relinquish.
After a bucket from Harden, Johnson gets isolated on ‘The Beard’ and takes it to the cup for a crafty finish.
On the Hawks next defensive possession, Porzingis and Johnson came up with two huge stops on the interior, resulting in a shot clock violation by the home team.
The Hawks extended their lead to six after a transition take-foul led to a technical free throw from Porzingis and a bucket from Dyson Daniels. After trading baskets, two free-throws from Harden cut Atlanta’s lead to four with just under a minute to go in regulation.
On Atlanta’s next offensive possession, former-Hawk John Collins came up with an excellent defensive play, meeting Porzingis at the rim to give the Hawks a sideline out of bounds with less than five seconds left on the shot-clock.
Unable to get the ball to Porzingis on the inbounds, Atlanta had to make something out of nothing, and with the shot-clock running down, they turned to (who else) Vit Krejci – who banked home a miracle three to put the Hawks up 7 with 35 seconds to play, giving him 28 points on the night.
It was anything but smooth sailing from here however for Atlanta. Krejci’s jubilance was short-lived, as he fouled James Harden on a three-point attempt just seconds later, sending him to the line for an opportunity to cut Atlanta’s lead to three.
After the free-throw from Harden the Hawks got sped up on the next possession – perhaps expecting Los Angeles to foul – causing Risacher to commit a ‘record-scratch’ of an error, turning the ball over with 0:18 seconds to play, giving the Clippers a chance to tie the game with a three.
With LA out of timeouts, Harden opted against holding on for the final shot and launched a quick three in transition (honestly not a terrible look considering how well he was shooting it in the fourth). He rimmed out, and Risacher secured the rebound, giving the Hawks a chance to ice the game at the free throw line.
This one still wasn’t over though. Risacher came up empty at the free throw line and after the Clippers secured the rebound off of the second free throw, they still had an opportunity to send the game to overtime.
With no timeouts left, Harden threw the ball ahead to Batum, but Krejci read the pass all the way, knocking the ball away from Batum before he even had a chance to shoot. Mo Gueye came up with the loose ball, launching the ball down the court as the game clock expired and Atlanta escaped with the win on the road.
Here are three keys to last night’s Hawks win.
Career Night for Krejci
This was Vit Krejci’s night, and long-time Hawks fans know just how long the 25-year-old has been working towards this.
This season is Krejci’s fourth with the Hawks, but the former second-round pick has had to earn his keep every step of the way. He was on a non-guaranteed deal in 2022-23. In 2023-24, the Hawks actually waived him prior to the regular season before resigning him on a two-way deal later on in the year. Krejci played well enough during the end of the 2023-24 season* to earn a partially guaranteed 4-year contract with Atlanta that summer.
*He was also the Peachtree Hoops reader’s choice assist of the year recipient in the regular season awards article I wrote that year.
Last season, Krejci really made an impact after injuries elevated him to a rotation spot, averaging 7.2 points while shooting 43.7% from three in 20 minutes per game across 57 appearances (16 starts). This season, Krejci struggled for minutes to start the year – logging DNP’s in 4 out of Atlanta’s first six games – before injuries once again gave him an opportunity for more minutes.
After quiet showings in games against Cleveland, Orlando and Toronto last week, Krejci scored 17 points on 13 shots in Atlanta’s win over the Lakers on Saturday, before exploding against the Clippers for 28 points last night.
Krejci became the first NBA player to hit eight threes off the bench this season, and the first Hawk to do so since Bogdan Bogdanovic hit 10 threes off the pine against Denver back in 2023.
“Once I hit those three threes in a row, that’s when I started feeling really good,” said Krejci after the game. “At the end, for me, it was most important not to force it. Dunn was playing pretty hard defense on me, so sometimes at that point the best thing you can do is just stay in the corner and open up the paint and let everybody play. So at the end, I was just trying to not force it and then obviously if the ball came to me just let it fly.”
‘We needed this spark from Vit tonight,” said Kristaps Porzingis. “We just didn’t have it in the beginning of the game, but when Vit came in [and] hit a few of those threes, you could see not just his confidence but the team’s confidence building.”
Quin Snyder shared in his post game presser that he’d actually spoken with Vit a few days ago to reaffirm the confidence he had in his player despite playing time being hard to come by.
“I just wanted him to know how much confidence I have in him.” Snyder said. “Sometimes the ‘stay ready’ moniker doesn’t feel loaded with a lot of sincerity but it’s true, and he’s done it, and I think as much as anything physically, which he’s done, mentally, the toughness that he’s shown, you saw the result of that tonight.”
Krejci said that Snyder has been telling him to ‘shoot’ and ‘be aggressive’ ever since he came to Atlanta, saying:
“That’s the best feeling as a player you can get from your coach. I love how we started two-three years ago, and the trust we’ve built over time. Obviously, I owe him [Snyder] a lot.
Truly an incredible night for Vit Krejci, and another feather in the cap for Atlanta’s ‘breakfast club’ after Mouhamed Gueye’s breakout game on Saturday night. Performances like this are what it’s all about.
Ball/Player Movement Leading to Good Things on Offense
While Krejci was fantastic last night, something that stuck out to me from Atlanta’s offense as a whole was how well the team shared the ball.
Quin Snyder has repeatedly said this season that he does not want his team to get bogged down playing ‘isolation basketball’, and that he wants movement and quick decision-making to be staples of the half-court offense. Last night, the Hawks racked up 30 assists on 38 made field-goals – their highest assist percentage (78.9%) of the season.
Atlanta now rank fifth in the league in season-long assist percentage (68.6%), and have topped the 70% assist-percentage mark in four out of their last five games. Now it’s important to note that a higher assist percentage doesn’t mean that the overall offense has been better, however given that Atlanta are operating without their best on-ball player in Trae Young, it’s encouraging to see them lean into this style of play.
In the second quarter last night, Dyson Daniels does a give-and-get with Okongwu at the top of the key while Krejci comes off a baseline screen from Jalen Johnson. Daniels finds Krejci in the corner and he connects on the three.
Later in the second, Dyson and Jalen Johnson connect out of the pick-and-roll – but don’t sleep on the off-ball action between Okongwu and Risacher in the bottom corner, delaying the defense for just a moment, clearing the lane for Johnson to finish at the rim.
Early in the third quarter, Zaccharie Risacher comes off a Dyson Daniels screen into a handoff with Porzingis, giving him enough time and space to take a rhythm dribble before comfortably knocking down the three-ball.
A few plays later, Jalen Johnson makes John Collins pay for a bad gamble, throwing down a one-handed jam off the dish from KP.
A couple possessions after that, Okongwu fakes the hand-off to Kennard then finds Dyson cutting backdoor for a slam. Beautiful basketball.
Plays like the ones above should become more common as the group continues to build chemistry. It’s been great to see them embrace playing with the pass.
Another Solid Jalen Johnson Outing
After missing Saturday’s victory over the Los Angeles Lakers, Jalen Johnson returned to Atlanta’s lineup on Monday night and hardly missed a beat.
While it wasn’t his most efficient night shooting the ball (7-for-16 shooting, 0-for-3 from distance), Johnson was a catalyst on both ends, finishing with 16 points, 10 rebounds, eight assists, two ‘stocks’ and just one turnover, earning him high praise from Quin Snyder in his post game press conference.
“I thought Jalen tonight, his ability to get in the lane and the decision that he made, were the best he’s made all year.” Snyder said. “He was getting deep in the paint, and as a result he was able to finish, and he was also able to find people because he was under control.”
“When he goes off one foot, he finishes as well as anybody but it’s the times where he’s getting in there and he’s cut off and he’s got to add poise and use his strength and his balance. When he does that, the game slows down and he’s able to find people. I thought we saw that tonight in transition, but also in the half court.”
Johnson’s eight assists last night tied his season-high, and it’s the third time he’s dished out that many assists this season (9 games played).
In the second quarter, he gets downhill in transition, then finds Risacher on the interior for a paint bucket.
In the third, he gets into the paint, then finds Okongwu underneath the basket for a late shot clock score.
In the fourth quarter, he drives on Zubac, draws the second defender, then sprays it out to Risacher for an open triple.
Playmaking has always been one of Johnson’s best skills on the basketball court, but it’s been a learning process for him this season as he tries to find the balance between scoring and playmaking while serving as one of Atlanta’s primary ball-handlers with Trae Young on the sidelines.
“It’s exactly what we need.” said Kristaps Porzingis postgame about the uptick in Johnson (and Dyson Daniels) playmaking with Young out. “Jalen, he’s a great scorer. He can really get the ball in the hoop, and he’s selfless at the same time. He will make plays for others, he will kick out the ball, he will draw the crowd in and that’s what we love to see from him.”
With last night’s win, the Hawks are now above .500 for the first time this season (caw caw!).
Let’s hope Johnson and the rest of the guys can keep the momentum going in their next matchup against the Kings on Wednesday night. Tip-off for that one is at 10pm EST on FanDuel Sports Network.
Until next time!
