Hawks Briefing: Now is not the time to overreact to a loss

Atlanta lost on the road to the Charlotte Hornets last night

Author:
Jackson Caudell
Publish date:
Oct 26, 2023 12:05 PM EDT

In this story:

The NBA season got underway this week and the Hawks faced the Hornets on Wednesday night, their first of 82 games this season.

The night did not go as planned.

Atlanta came in as a small favorite over the Hornets and while the Hawks led for most of the first half, the Hornets crawled their way back into it and stayed ahead for most of the game. Atlanta guards Trae Young and Dejounte Murray shot a combined 7-33 and only hit one three-pointer between them. De'Andre Hunter made no impact plays on either end of the floor, and AJ Griffin could not hit a shot from behind the arc. In my view, the lone bright spot from the game was the play of Jalen Johnson, who finished with a career-high 21 points.

While last night is surely frustrating, remember how long of a season this is going to be.

Trae Young — Atlanta lost to Charlotte on the road last night
Nell Redmond-USA TODAY Sports

It can be easy to overreact when the team does not play well and you lose on the road to the team that had the No. 2 pick in the draft last year. The Hawks, for whatever reason, have struggled with the Hornets in the regular season recently, and that continued last night.

But it is not time to panic.

The odds of either Young or Murray playing that poorly again are small and its even smaller that both of them play that poorly in the same game. I think how Johnson played is encouraging and hopefully will continue. The three-point shooting should even out in the upcoming games and I think this team is going to be fine. I know the kneejerk reaction of panicking over an opening night loss, but it is just one game out of 82 and if the Hawks beat the Knicks at home tomorrow, that will be the main focus, not an opening night loss to the Hornets.