Atlanta Loses Lead in Fourth Quarter, falls 109-106 On The Road To Minnesota
Atlanta came on the road tonight hoping to snap their four game losing streak, but they were going against one of the NBA's best teams tonight. Minnesota is still fighing to be the top seed in the Western Conference and the Hawks are locked into No. 10 not matter what.
The Hawks would end up treating this game much like they did Wednesday against Charlotte. After being questionable coming into the games, Atlanta would end up playing Dejounte Murray, Clint Capela and AJ Griffin, but not for the whole game. Like Wednesday night, Atlanta pulled its starters a few minutes into the fourth quarter to get them rest. The Hawks young players battled hard, but they could not overcome Anthony Edwards in the fourth quarter, as well as Rudy Gobert. Minnesota would win the game 109-106 and now there is just one game left for the Hawks on Sunday in Indiana vs the Pacers. There were good things to take out of this game for Atlanta and the result is largely meaningless in the big picture of things.
Let's recap tonight's game in Minnesota.
Tonight, Atalnta started Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, Bogdan Bogdanovic, De'Andre Hunter, and Clint Capela.
Minnesota started Mike Conley, Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Rudy Gobert.
The Hawks were going against the NBA's best defense tonight and you knew it was going to be tough for them to get points.
The good thing was that in the first quarter, Trae Young looked comfortable and scoring at will. Young had a solid first game back vs Charlotte on Wednesday, but he was off to a great start in the first quarter, scoring eight points.
On the other end, it was Gobert who was doing damage against Atlanta. He was 4-4 for eight points and five rebounds, as well as two blocked shots. Gobert is the front-runner for defensive player of the year for a reason and he showed it in the first quarter.
The rotations were going to be interesting for the Hawks tonight. AJ Griffin was upgraded to available today and actually got some playing time. He joined Garrison Matthews, Bruno Fernando, and Mouhamed Gueye. Griffin and Gueye have not played much for the Hawks this season, but this was the second staright game for Gueye.
I thought it would have been impossible for the Hawks to lead after a quarter if they did not hit a three but that is what happened. Neither team shot well from deep (2-15 combined) in the first quarter and the Hawks led 27-25 after the first.
The second quarter is when Minnesota turned up the defensive intensity.
The Hawks would continue to struggle from three (1-5) and Young did not score a point in the second. Bogdanovic scored eight points, but no other Hawk had more than four. Atlanta shot 37% from the field and was outscored by Minnesota 31-20 in the quarter.
Naz Reid came off the bench to lead the Wolves in scoring in the second, scoring 12 points. Mike Conley continued to run the show on offense and Minnesota shot 55% from the field. Still, Atlanta only trailed 56-47 and had a shot to make a run in the second half.
Atlanta shot 41% from the field in the first half but were a dreadful 1-11 from three. Combine the poor three-point shooting with the Hawks also being 10-16 from the free-throw line, Atlanta left far too many points on the court in the first half. Bogdanovic was the only Hawk in double-digits with 10, but Young (8), Capela (8), Hunter (7), and Murray (7) had solid first halfs.
Minnesota shot 50% from the field and 32% from three in the first half. Gobert had 11, while Reid had 15. Timberwolves superstar Anthony Edwards was 1-4 from the filed for two points and had four personal fouls already.
As bad as the second quarter was for the Hawks, the third quarter as completely different.
Atlanta would trail by as 17 in the third, but they would go into the fourth quarter tied.
Trae Young had an excellent quarter, going 2-3 from three, scoring eight points and leading the offense effectively. De'Andre Hunter was 2-4 from three and also scored eight points while Bogdanovic had seven. Capela, Hunter, and Murray played the entire third quarter, which made you wonder if the Hawks would play them at all in the fourth quarter
The Minnesota offense has been under a microscope given their record and it has been a talking point around the league over whether they have enough offense to be a true threat to win the Western Conference and make the Finals. It was a putrid showing in the third quarter from Minnesota's offense, shooting 35% from the field and 23% from three. It was a good showing from the Hawks and they had a chance to win the game going to the fourth quarter.
Hawks head coach Quin Snyder opted to rest his starters in the fourth quarter. With the most important game of the season next week, Snyder gave most of the fourth quarter minutes to Bruno Fernando, Kobe Bufkin, Vit Kreci, AJ Griffin, Garrison Matthews and Mouhamed Gueye.
Give the young Hawks credit though, the made it a game right up until the end.
Minnesota did not cruise to victory and the Hawks had multiple chances to try and steal a win. Anthony Edwards shook off what had been an off night for him leading up to the fourth quarter and helped put the Hawks away and win 109-106.
Sunday is going to be interesting for the Hawks. It would not surprise anyone if Snyder chose to rest all of his starters for all or most of the game, but Atlanta will have to navigate that carefully, as they only have so many players that can play minutes for them. The Hawks matchup with the Bulls in the play-in tournament is of more importance and I would expect the Hawks to treat it that way.
