Five Takeaways from Hawks Loss to Nets

The Atlanta Hawks matchups with the Brooklyn Nets may not be as highly-anticipated as their games against the New York Knicks. However, the budding rivalry always treats fans to an exciting brand of basketball.

Last night, the short-handed Hawks lost 120-116 to the Nets. Atlanta is now 13-13 on the season and limps home with a depleted roster. Below are our five biggest takeaways from last night's game.

Hawks Rotation

Facing Brooklyn without three starters is never a good proposition, but that is the situation Atlanta found themselves in last night. Aaron Holiday, AJ Griffin, and Jalen Johnson plugged into the starting five and did their best.

Unfortunately, Atlanta's replacements were in for a masterclass taught by Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Brooklyn's two superstars scored 34 and 33 points, respectively. It is worth noting that Trent Forrest played well coming off Atlanta's bench.

Trae Young

Trae Young is not having fun this season. The All-NBA guard is mired in the worst shooting slump of his career and was without co-star Dejounte Murray last night. However, Young played well and had fun in Brooklyn.

After Young's first few shots went in, a palpable sense of relief permeated from Barclay's Center. Young finished the game with 33 points and nine assists. We just have to give Young time and space to work his way out of the slump.

Ben Simmons

Last night was the first time in 538 days that Ben Simmons and Trae Young played on the same court. The last time the guards saw each other was Game 7 of the 2021 Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Of course, the fallout from Simmons' passive play is well-documented. Since then, Young has taken an empathetic approach to Simmons' decision-making in the intense game.

Bogdan Bogdanovic

Bogdan Bogdanovic was born without the ability to feel pressure during tight situations. There were several moments last night where the game teetered on the edge of a blowout.

However, Bogdanovic had an answer for every devastating bucket from Durant and Irving. Bogdanovic finished the game with 31 points on a scorching 77.8% from behind the arc.

Turnovers

Atlanta played hard last night, and there are not many fair complaints that be levied. Except for the team's turnovers. Atlanta turned the ball over 18 times (five more than usual).

Luckily, Brooklyn had 21 turnovers, which Atlanta turned into 29 points. There were a lot of trading baskets and sloppy play during the game. That should not come as a surprise, given Atlanta's skeleton crew.