Biggest Takeaways From Atlanta's Narrow Win Over Short Handed Pacers Squad

No team should ever apologize for a win, but the Atlanta Hawks might want to consider it at least after what transpired tonight in Indiana.

All the credit in the world should go to the Pacers for hanging around this game with only six available players, only one of which would be in their actual rotation if everyone were healthy, but the Hawks have some things they need to figure out and figure out quickly.

Here are the biggest takeaways from tonight's game.

1. Concern levels should be rising rapidly for Atlanta

You never want to put too much on one game in the NBA, especially one in October, but the concern level for the Atlanta Hawks needs to be rising after these first eight games.

Coming off a 22 point loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, this was a game the Hawks should have dominated from start to finish. Yes, Jalen Johnson and Jock Landale were missing, but the Pacers had only six players available and things should not have been this difficult.

Aside from Nickeil Alexander-Walker, I don't think I can say that any player on Atlanta actually played well. Some players made clutch plays at the end to salvage some of their performances (looking at you, Onyeka Okongwu and CJ McCollum), but this starting five continues to have problems.

McCollum finished the game shooting 4-for-17 from the field and had three turnovers, Dyson Daniels had his fifth straight game of not scoring in double-digits, and the bench was ineffective outside of some decent shooting by Corey Kispert.

Again, the alarm bells should not be sounded yet. Jalen Johnson, Kingston Flemings, and Jock Landale did not play and were missed, but Atlanta has to be better than this against this kind of opponent. If not for a nice night shooting from three, the Hawks lose.

2. Atlanta's three-point shooting won them the game

The stat of the game for Atlanta is that they shot 23-51 from three and the Pacers only hit eight threes total in the game. When you make 15 more threes than your opponent, it is really hard to lose, but the Hawks gave it their best effort tonight.

Nine of the 23 made threes came from Alexander-Walker, Lu Dort (who got the start in place of Johnson) was 4-for-6, Corey Kispert was 4-for-7 from deep, and both Okongwu and McCollum hit two a piece.

Three point variance has hurt the Hawks in some games, but the hot shooting was able to keep them from having a disastrous loss.

3. Nickeil Alexander-Walker was outstanding

Alexander-Walker had a great game tonight and was by far the best player on the court for the Hawks.

He finished with 34 points on 12-for-25 shooting, including 9-for-15 from three, as well as having four rebound and four assists. He has been arguably the top player on the Hawks this season and had his best game of the year to prevent an embarrassing result.

4. Hawks continue to allow points in the paint at a high rate

The Pacers shot 8-for-34 from three, and when that happens, most NBA teams are going to get blown out. If you are playing against the Hawks, there is still a pathway to victory because of the number of points Atlanta is going to give up in the paint.

Quin Snyder knows the limitations of his roster in terms of size, but giving up 54 points in the paint to this Pacers team is inexcuseable and nearly cost the Hawks.

5. Offense goes flat in the second half

Atlanta led by 12 at the half and looked like they were going to begin to pull away from Indiana if they could keep up their hot shooting and put things together on defense.

They only did one of those things in the second half.

The Hawks shot 26.9% in the second half, including going 8-for-24 in the second half. The Pacers were not a lot better, but they were nearly good enough to complete the comeback and beat the Hawks. Nothing is coming easy for the Hawks on offense and they need to figure out how to manufacture better shots and not rely solely on Nickeil Alexander-Walker to bail them out by shooting well from three.

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