The Atlanta Hawks were in Indiana on Friday evening to face the Pacers in their first game of the NBA Cup this evening. With Trae Young ruled out, the Hawks were looking to get another win on their road trip as it’s near its end. That meant that players would have to step up, similar to how they did against the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday.
As for the Pacers, the injury bug has hit them hard to start the season, and outside of Tyrese Haliburton being out, Andrew Nembhard, Benedict Mathurin, TJ McConnell,
Obi Toppin, and Kam Jones were also out for the game.
Jalen Johnson is one of those players, and he made his presence felt early, scoring four early points for the Hawks.
The Hawks couldn’t get much going on offense throughout the first, and they led them to go down as much as 12 points. After a while, the Hawks started to get into a rhythm and cut down their double-digit deficit. Johnson connected with Nickeil Alexander-Walker for this 3-pointer.
Keaton Wallace and Luke Kennard knocked down some 3-pointers in the first, courtesy of each other.
The Hawks turned defense into offense, continuing to cut down their deficit. Onyeka Okongwu was big down the stretch, getting a block and then knocking down two 3-pointers. To end the first quarter, the Hawks led 32-29.
Dyson Daniels was on the attack in the first half, and had a nice few drives to the basket that he was able to convert.
Alexander-Walker got a couple of buckets to go in the second quarter, keeping the Hawks afloat.
The Hawks kept pushing the pace which led to easy buckets, like this one from Daniels to Johnson.
If anybody has watched the Pacers in the calendar year, you know that it’s hard to put them away. They continued to stay in the fight despite being short-handed, and they went back and forth with the Hawks. The one area where the Hawks showed their weakness was on the boards, and the Pacers were able to create multiple opportunities because of it.
The Hawks made sure to make up for it on the other end, and Kristaps Porzingis got his first 3-pointer of the game to go in.
Daniels and Alexander-Walker took turns guarding Siakam, and they did everything they could to contain the Pacers’ main threat. They were successful at times, and on this specific possession, they got him to cough up the ball for an easy two on the other end.
Going into the halftime, the Hawks led the Pacers 63-59.
The Hawks came out on a mission in the second half, and it was to outrun the Pacers as much as they could. It worked, and the Hawks started to extend their lead.
Alexander-Walker went coast to coast and punched in the dunk of the game to continue to extend the Hawks’ lead.
It was a 20-point lead for the Hawks midway through the third, and they continued to try and create distance with them and the Pacers. Wallace had a nice sequence in the corner on both sides of the ball, making the most of his time on the court.
Zaccharie Risacher got a few shots to go in toward the end of the quarter, and the Hawks went into the fourth leading 97-76. Risacher kept it going to the start the fourth, and knocked down another 3-pointer to extend the Hawks’ lead.
The Pacers slowly started to get some shots to fall and cut their deficit down a little, but the Hawks answered back.
From there, the Hawks controlled the game, and with the NBA Cup games being big on point differential, most of the key guys stayed in late into the fourth.
Johnson finished with 22 points, 13 rebounds, and eight assists, Alexander-Walker finished with 21 points, Daniels finished with 18 points, nine rebounds, and six assists, and Okongwu finished with 14 points, nine rebounds, and two assists.
The Hawks will be back in action on Sunday against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
