Despite Comeback Attempt, Hawks Fall Short to Wizards Without Young
Trae Young watched Friday’s game from the Hawks’ hotel in Washington, D.C. with flu-like symptoms, and for much of the game it seemed the Hawks might fold on the road without their best player. The game slowly spiraled in Washington’s favor through the first three quarters, and Atlanta looked disjointed on both ends of the floor. The Hawks tailed by 18 entering the fourth quarter and as many as 19 midway through the third. Slowly, though, they began to turn the momentum back in their favor. Atlanta outscored the Wizards 37-25 in the fourth period and trailed by just four points with under two minutes to play. But the Hawks’ push came too late to make up for their earlier sins, and their comeback effort ultimately fell short as Washington held onto a 118-112 win.
“Not a lack of effort by our guys, not a lack of aggression by our guys, and never really thought we were out of the game,” Lloyd Pierce said. “I thought our guys competed at a really high level tonight. It was good to see an energetic group trying to throw different looks at them defensively, and the activity, the ball movement, the pop, the bounce that our guys had tonight was tremendous.”
That pop wasn’t always there during the middle two quarters, during which the Wizards created a 19-point advantage. The Hawks didn’t have a reliable means of creating offense in a pinch without Young, and going into the fourth quarter they had 15 turnovers and just eight free-throw attempts. Bradley Beal was unstoppable for the majority of the game, finishing with 35 points and four assists on 13-of-21 shooting. He executed every move with fluidity and precision, and his every shot seemed to land softly through the net after tracing an idyllic arc through the air.
The Hawks managed to slow Beal in the second half, though not quiet him entirely, which stemmed the flow of Washington’s offense just enough for the Hawks to make up some ground. The Wizards received a lift from Dāvis Bertāns, Moe Wagner, and Troy Brown off the bench, but the unit Scott Brooks closed the game with didn’t have the same punch once Beal dimmed. “Once we were able to contain him a little bit in the second half it just slowed up their offense,” Pierce said.
With Young out, Kevin Huerter tallied a career-high 11 assists to go with 14 points as Atlanta’s primary ball-handler. Huerter was aggressive with his shot, particularly early on, and while his individual efficiency dipped as he manufactured more of his own offense, he helped guide the Hawks on both ends of the floor during their fourth-quarter surge.
“Kevin really took on a leadership role tonight, just communicating all of our coverages, communicating to the other guys,” Pierce said. “He had to play some point guard, we had to put the ball in his hands a little more than normal, and he’s always been a willing passer.”
Jeff Teague helped grease the Hawks’ offensive wheels in the first half with his downhill penetration and playmaking in the open court, and Vince Carter offered a mild boost with eight points. Atlanta was highly effective in transition, running on over 17 percent of its possessions and scoring 1.43 points per play in those scenarios.
The most explosive contributions of the night, however, came from Cam Reddish and John Collins. After missing the last game with a back injury, Cam Reddish finished with 28 points and seven turnovers -- both career-highs -- while shooting 7-of-11 from the floor and playing with as much audacity as ever. Reddish seems to play well in these sorts of games. When the Hawks fall into a big hole, the rookie tends to help pull them back within striking distance or go out trying.
Friday night he continually attacked Washington’s defense from the moment he entered the game, giving Atlanta an immediate and much-needed jolt tonight. He scored 10 points in 83 seconds during his first stint in the first half, and helped carry his team during otherwise dry spells in the second. He was partially responsible for helping contain Beal in the second half, and without Young gave the Hawks a go-to scorer down the stretch of a close game.
"He’s an unbelievably dynamic offensive player when he gets going and really good on the defensive end, too,” Huerter said of his teammate. “He showed flashes of that all year and he obviously has a really bright future for us.”
Reddish and John Collins combined to score 54 points on 21-of-32 from the field and scored 25 of Atlanta’s 37 points in the fourth quarter. Collins was quiet for much of the first half, attempting only three shots and battling foul trouble against a white-hot Washington offense. But in the fourth quarter, he made himself more available and settled into a rhythm. 16 of his 26 points came in the fourth quarter, and his defense picked up in that span as well, which helped the Hawks maintain their structural integrity on both ends without a center on the floor.
“We wanted to play downhill,” Pierce said. “We wanted to try and move their defense and see if we could get behind the defense as well, and John was tremendous there.”
The greatest point of separation between the two teams on Friday was at the foul line, where the Wizards outshot Atlanta 35-12. That wasn’t because of some great officiating injustice (if anything, Washington had more to complain about), but rather a difference in style and personnel. Beal is a proficient foul-drawer and Washington ranks seventh in the NBA in free-throw rate this season. Young might be savvier than anyone in the Eastern Conference at drawing contact, but without him the Hawks are rather thin on foul-seekers. Atlanta posted a higher effective field goal percentage and lower turnover rate than the Wizards, but such a lopsided disparity in free-throw attempts gave Washington an insurmountable edge.
The Hawks will turn around quickly with a rematch against Memphis tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. The Grizzlies trounced Atlanta last Monday and, like the Hawks, feature one of the most exciting young point guards in the NBA. Atlanta will hope to have its catalyst back in the lineup, and that the resolve it showed late against the Wizards carries into Monday.
