After Disappointing Performance Against Magic, Can the Hawks' Supporting Cast Rebound on Friday?

Frankly, the Atlanta Hawks got throughly outclassed by the Orlando Magic on Tuesday. Surprisingly, they did a good job of slowing down the Magic's star wing duo of Franz Wagner and Paolo Banchero. The issues came when they tried to stop anyone else. On paper, Atlanta had better depth. In a game where scoring would be at a premium, they finished the season 4th in bench points. The Magic only finished 17th in the same metric. It is worth noting that the Hawks' bench did have a worse plus-minus, grading out as the 21st bench unit in the NBA while Orlando ranked 18th. Still, it isn't a surprise that the Hawks' rotation struggled on defense. The worrying part is that their starters and second unit just couldn't score after putting up a solid volume of points all season long.

To recap, Zacccharie Risacher was 2-10 from the field and scored seven points. Onyeka Okongwu had 11 points and nine rebounds, and Dyson Daniels scored seven points. Caris LeVert had seven points on 3-11 shooting. Georges Niang had 15 points, and Dominick Barlow, Terance Mann, and Vit Krejci combined for eight points. The Orlando bench outscored the Hawks' bench 57-30. Niang being the only player to get close to 15+ points outside of Trae Young (28 points, 6 assists) is extremely problematic.

Conversely, the Magic's rotation stepped up to meet the moment. Cole Anthony scored 26 points in 20 points, Anthony Black had 16 points on 6-7 shooting, and Wendell Carter Jr had 19 points and seven rebounds. It helped them overcome a poor scoring night from Wagner and Banchero, who had a combined 30 points on 10-28 shooting. That isn't to say that they disappeared from the game. Banchero got close to a triple-double with 9 rebounds and seven assists while Wagner competed on the boards and ended with a 13 point, 13 rebound double-double. However, Atlanta previously found some success by forcing Wagner and Banchero to do everything while Orlando's supporting cast floundered. That trend reversed itself.

In their previous matchups, the Magic frequently got more opportunities for free throws and could rely on those as an easy source of offense. That wasn't the case tonight. Atlanta got more free throw opportunities than Orlando (34 to 27). However, they shot 79.4% from the charity stripe. Ultimately, it didn't end up making much of a difference, but it speaks to a broader theme of not taking advantage of opportunities. On defense, they deserve credit for slowing down Wagner and Banchero. Dyson Daniels and Mo Gueye had good nights on those respective assignments. However, the rest of the team did not fare well on that end.

Now, there are some important caveats to concede about the supporting cast's performance. Missing Jalen Johnson, who is a critical two-way force for this team, definitely played a role tonight. They are thin at center with both Clint Capela and Larry Nance Jr out. The Hawks also did a much better job of limiting turnovers, only finishing with eight on the night. However, those ancillary factors don't completely excuse the fact that they finished the game shooting 19% from deep. Orlando finished shooting a measly 28.2% from deep, but they got big performances from Cole Anthony (4-9) and Anthony Black (3-3).

There's also reason to be optimistic for improvement - the third quarter provided evidence of that. It was a combination of solid offense and better defense. Young scored 12 points in the quarter, and with 2:30 left in the third, the Hawks had the lead cut to three. After not playing in the first half, Atlanta put Vit Krejci into the game. While they still struggled from deep, the Hawks shot 56% from the field. Niang came off the bench to hit a three at the buzzer, and after trailing by as many as 22 in the game, the Hawks trailed by six going into the fourth.

If this team is going to make the playoffs, everyone needs to be better against either Chicago or Miami on Friday. Miami finished 7th in points allowed per game and they are always solid on that end. They have also traditionally done a good job of limiting Young, so the Hawks can't rely on a incredible performance from their star point guard to bail them out. Chicago actually finished 28th in the NBA in terms of points allowed, one spot below Atlanta, but they've played a little better since the All-Star break, getting up to 21st. The Bulls are also ninth in FG% conceded, per Cleaning the Glass. Furthermore, the Hawks haven't shot that well against Chicago this year, finishing with a combined 32.8% from deep in their four games versus the Bulls.

Regardless of who their opponent is, it's going to take more of a team effort than what they showed on Tuesday. They have the talent to get the No. 8 seed - it's a matter of coming together and getting it done on Friday.

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