The Atlanta Hawks recorded their sixth straight defeat, falling to the New York Knicks 128-125 on Saturday night at State Farm Arena. Onyeka Okongwu led the Hawks with 31 points and 14 rebounds with Nickeil
Alexander-Walker adding 25 points. For the Knicks, Karl-Anthony Towns scored 36 points, while Jalen Brunson added 34 points.
With the Hawks on the second night of a back-to-back, the Knicks more rested having last played on Christmas Day, and being the better team with a 21-9 record prior to last night’s game, the Knicks were considered favorites heading into this game.
To open, it was a very even affair, with no team leading by more than four points in the first quarter. The Knicks began to open the game out in the second quarter, taking their first double-digit lead of the game and a 13-point lead into the locker-room at halftime.
Behind Brunson and Towns, the Knicks began to pull away in the third, taking their lead to a game-high 18 points, but a balanced scoring effort from Atlanta saw them quickly chip away at this lead. However, the Hawks missed multiple opportunities to take this lead down to a single-possession game. Two pretty decent looks at a three from Alexander-Walker, but unfortunately for the Hawks two misses:
In the end, the Knicks take a nine point lead into the fourth quarter. Small margins, sure, but at the time in the game it felt like it could be a big phase of the game that looked as though it had passed the Hawks by. However, the comeback continued in the fourth quarter and eventually turned into a lead thanks to an Okongwu three after Young draws the defense away from Okongwu:
Brunson provides an immediate response as he blitzes by Dyson Daniels and gets into the paint to hit the runner:
The issues Daniels has picking up Brunson at half-court is that if he’s beaten with a quick move, as he is here, he’s behind the play all the way, and Brunson is able to get deep into the paint.
In reply, Trae Young tries to break down Mikal Bridges, but his long step-back jumper is missed:
It’s a shot Young can obviously make, but in a game where the shot wasn’t quite falling it’s probably not the best shot in this situation; the shot itself, a long two which is contested, isn’t exactly ideal either.
Brunson, again, comes up clutch for the Knicks as he buries a three with Alexander-Walker in close proximity to put the Knicks back up by three points:
An odd contest from Alexander-Walker here as it looks as though he loses balance and can’t get his hand up to more effectively contest the shot. He’s not to blame here for this three, it’s a big shot from Brunson in a big moment.
Two Young free throws bring the lead back down to one point, before a great poke-away from Alexander-Walker on Brunson creates a fastbreak opportunity which he finishes, despite the goaltend from OG Anunoby:
A great steal from Alexander-Walker here to give the Hawks a lead again with under a minute of play remaining, putting the hosts in a great position to finally snap the skid.
Alexander-Walker guards Brunson again this possession (seemingly taking over from Daniels after Brunson’s last basket), and Brunson’s shot from the outside is missed. However, the Hawks’ issues on the glass (of which there were many in this game) rears its ugly head again, as Anunoby secures the rebound ahead of Johnson — who ends up on the floor — and Okongwu falls for the fake, committing his sixth foul of the game and sending Anunoby to the free throw line:
A very costly lapse from Johnson here to lose out on establishing rebounding position to Anunoby — the Hawks just have to come up with the rebound in this case, and a ‘lack of size’ is not applicable here for Atlanta.
Anunoby hits both free throws to give the Knicks a 126-125 lead with 30 seconds remaining, giving the Hawks an opportunity yet to retake the lead. Issues arise as the ball is deflected out of bounds, leading to a Hawks timeout, and Young is unable to penetrate, passing the ball back out to Johnson. Anunoby knocks the ball out of Johnson’s hands for the turnover and is fouled by Alexander-Walker with the shot clock now off:
Good defense from the Knicks to cut off Young’s driving line, and active hands from Anunoby to pry the ball from Johnson, but so rough for the Hawks to come up with a turnover in this spot, especially coming out of a timeout. All was not lost though, as even after Anunoby’s free throws the Knicks led by just three points. The Hawks use their last timeout, and Alexander-Walker gets a great look at a three after the fake sheds Mitchell Robinson, but the open three is missed and the Hawks lose the game:
Hawks head coach Quin Snyder has recently discussed how difficult it is to get an open shot at the end of the game; this was exactly that. You couldn’t have asked for a better look for a player who has hit five threes already in this game. Alas, it just did not bounce the Hawks’ way.
Postgame, Snyder highlighted the Knicks’ ability to grab offensive rebounds as the area that cost the Hawks across the game, rather than the late-game turnover.
“It doesn’t come down to one play,” said Snyder when initially asked about the late game turnover. “The thing that hurt us tonight in a one possession game was the offensive glass. Whether it was Robinson, McCullar got a few in the first half that were impactful. That’s not to say we fought, we had guys mixing it up. Onyeka especially going against not only Towns but Robinson comes in. I was proud of how we competed. You would like to get a win because it’s affirming of the way you played. That wasn’t the case, but I think the things our team did tonight are the things we need to do to be successful; it didn’t happen tonight.”
The Knicks secured 19 offensive rebounds leading to 23 second chance points, with Towns and Robinson combining for nine offensive rebounds between them. Postgame, Snyder discussed the size advantage the Knicks boasted over the Hawks.
“Robinson leads the league in offensive rebounding,” said Snyder. “Onyeka is 6-9, they have two seven footers. We were at a disadvantage from a size standpoint. Bridges is 6-8, Anunoby is 6-8, so we just have to fight, and I thought we did that. If there’s one we can have back, it’s McCullar going to the glass, particularly in the first half. There’s a reason he’s averaging four offensive rebounds a game … I thought we fought. I didn’t see a team that was not going to glass and not scrapping, and that’s what we need to do.”
In both of his answers so far, Snyder has alluded that he believed the Hawks did a number of things well despite the loss, and that his side fought well. Nickeil Alexander-Walker revealed that, following Friday’s loss against the Heat, the Hawks players hung back to discuss their current predicament. Following this meeting, there appeared to be a sentiment from Alexander-Walker and Jalen Johnson that this meeting was productive and reflective of their play last night.
“After last night we had a real sit-down with the whole group and said we need to be better,” said Alexander-Walker. “I think you can feel it in the presence of the game. During the stretch where we weren’t making shots and they were and they had that stretch where they pulled it out. We were able to stop the bleeding, we fought to get it back and played through mistakes because that’s what the game is going to come to. Through the ups and downs we were able to ride it out and take the lead twice and it’s just unfortunate.”
“We told each other what needed to be said yesterday,” Johnson elaborated on the meeting. “A lot of guys spoke, I think that was a good sign. It was reflected today, we just needed to come out with a W.”
Alexander-Walker believed that there was a distinguishable difference between the loss against Miami on Friday, and last night’s loss. He elaborated that while losing any game isn’t ideal, the loss last night was much easier to accept as he believed the Hawks made a forward step, believing that the Hawks’ growing experience in clutch situations is going to stand to them in the future.
“I think it’s the productivity of what we did,” said Alexander-Walker. “I look at tonight and I say ‘I can accept losing this way.’ You don’t want to lose, but there’s things you will accept and not accept. You can’t win every game and I’m not looking for moral victories. When you set out to change, very rarely are you going to do it the very next day. If you are, wow, teach me, but it’s just not going to happen. That’s something we did tonight: we took a step in the right direction. We have to remember there’s 49 games left and our mindset for the rest of this 49 is important. If we continue to have the same mentality as we did tonight then I think, more times than not, we’ll find a way to win. We’re growing. Late game situations, we’re playing in a lot of clutch games and that’s going to help us. We’re going to build confidence. Trae has the supreme confidence in that position, now, every body else is gaining that confidence in their ability when that moment comes because we’ve been there so many times.”
The Hawks have played the sixth most clutch games of any team in the NBA so far this season; 19 games, and a 9-10 record in clutch games (games where either team is within five points in the last five minutes of a game). The Hawks, again, came close in this spot down the stretch. In this case, they recovered from a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter to briefly take the lead before relinquishing it. While the loss stings for the Hawks, they are clearly encouraged with the step this game represented to them.
“Sometimes you don’t come out on top but I feel we did a lot of good things tonight,” said Johnson. “Obviously you don’t want hang your head on moral victories but we did a lot good things in that second half we can continue to build off of.”
Time will tell whether this game actually represents a turning point for the Hawks’ season. Alexander-Walker put it quite eloquently when discussing it, but change doesn’t happen instantly and the Hawks have a lot of games remaining — there is still time to turn their season around.
It may not happen immediately as the Hawks have some difficult games approaching, and when you’re in the midst of a six-game losing streak all of this talk of moral victories (which is essentially what the Hawks are describing) is hollow right now.
Across the roster, after struggling against the Heat, Onyeka Okongwu played a great bounce-back game scoring 31 points on 10-of-16 from the field, 6-of-10 from three, and 14 rebounds against a tough matchup in Towns and Robinson. This comes after Okongwu shot 0-of-5 from three on Friday, so it was encouraging to see Okongwu’s three-point shot find some form, and to do so very early in the first quarter provided Okongwu with confidence to continue to shoot the ball all night long.
Alexander-Walker put together a strong second half, finishing with 25 points as he led the Hawks’ comeback charge in the fourth quarter and finished 8-of-18 from the field and 5-of-12 from three. Johnson added 20 points on 7-of-16 from the field to go with 12 assists. From a playmaking perspective, Johnson played a patient, strong game but did try to force a few shots on offense at times.
Daniels also played a balanced game, scoring 13 points to go with nine assists and eight rebounds but struggled at times with a very difficult assignment on Jalen Brunson, who was fantastic in this game alongside Towns. Asa Newell also played a bigger role in this game and was a lot more effective in his time on the floor in this game. Newell scored 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field, and 2-of-3 from three in 16 minutes.
Trae Young struggled to impose himself on this game, scoring just nine points on 2-of-9 from the field and 0-of-4 from three, and while he did have 10 assists Young committed six turnovers. It’s a difficult matchup for Young, with the likes of Bridges and Anunoby, among others, who can switch onto Young effectively. In addition, Young saw a lot of pressure on the ball, forcing him to get off the ball and limiting his effectiveness offensively.
Elsewhere, Zaccharie Risacher’s role and minutes distribution continue to cause confusion. He played 19 minutes last night (and zero in the fourth quarter), scoring just four points on 2-of-7 shooting. On many occasions this season, Snyder just seems so reluctant to play Risacher more than 20 minutes in games, and I can’t help but wonder if perhaps the Hawks might be better served at this stage — since they’ve lost six straight games — starting Vit Krejci over Risacher. Krejci would provide more efficient three-point shooting in the starting lineup, and Risacher might be better off playing against more second unit lineups.
It’ll be interesting to see if the Hawks make any changes going forward in the midst of this six game losing streak, and matters do not get any easier as the Hawks now head West to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder (26-5). The Thunder, however, will be on the second night of a back-to-back, as they take on the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday afternoon. Should be an interesting encounter to say the least.
…Until next time!
