Brooklyn Nails 22 Three-Pointers in Blowout Win Over the Hawks
A crucial game in the NBA Play-In Tournament race took place tonight in Brooklyn.
Atlanta went with their lineup of Dejounte Murray, Bogdan Bogndaovic, Saddiq Bey, Jalen Johnson, and Clint Capela.
Brooklyn started Dennis Schroder, Cam Johnson, Mikal Bridges, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Nic Claxton. They were missing Ben Simmons and Cam Thomas, two key parts of their bench.
In the last two games without Trae Young the Hawks have started out strong, but that was not the case tonight. Brooklyn does not have a great offense, but they are 8th in three-point attempts. They shoot a lot of threes and when they are connecting on those attempts, they are tough to beat.
This was one of those nights.
Johnson hit his first three shots (all three-pointers) of the game and had nine points. The Nets raced out to an 18-4 lead with 7:16 left in the first quarter and Hawks head coach Quin Snyder wanted an early timeout. Atlanta had two straight games where they played good defense against Orlando and Utah, but they came out tonight in the worst way possible.
The first subs in the game were De'Andre Hunter and Garrison Matthews, closely followed by Burno Fernando and Garrison Matthews.
The first quarter was an abject disaster for Atlanta. They trailed 34-16 after the first quarter, were shooting 25% from the field, and had yet to hit a three, being 0-4 from deep. Atlanta was going to need a completely different effort in the second quarter to make sure the game did not get away from them early and that is what they got.
Led by Murray, the Hawks had a terrific second quarter, outscoring the Nets 34-22 and cutting the lead to six going into the half. Murray had 14 points in the quarter and was the only Hawks player to be in double-digits at halftime, scoring 20 points.
Johnson had an unbelievable first half for Brooklyn, scoring 18 points. The Nets shot 42% from the field and from three in the first half, while Atlanta shot 39% from the field and 27% from three.
The third quarter is where Brooklyn took control for the rest of the game.
In the first six minutes of the third quarter, the Nets scored 21 points and kept raining the three-pointers. Johnson and Schroder both scored 11 points and Brooklyn shot 74% in the third quarter. The Hawks could not match that and were outscored 38-25 and trailed by 19 going into the final quarter. It was going to take a miracle for them to get back into the game.
The miracle never came. Brooklyn led by as much as 31 in this game and just dismantled the Hawks in the second half. Brooklyn won the game 124-97 and ended the Hawks's brief winning streak.
Feb 29, 2024; Brooklyn, New York, USA; Brooklyn Nets center Nic Claxton (33) moves to the basket against Atlanta Hawks center Clint Capela (15) in the first quarter at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports
Atlanta shot 43% from the field and 29% from three in this game. Dejounte Murray had 28 points in this game, but no other Hawk had more than 14.
Brooklyn shot 51% from the field and 48% from three. Johnson scored 29 points, while Schroder had 23, the highest amount he has scored during his time with the Nets
If it was not already clear, the Hawks offense is just not the same without Trae Young. They were not great on offense in the first two games without him against Orlando and Utah, but this was by far the worst game on that end of the floor without him so far. Snyder has a lot of things to figure out if the Hawks are going to maintain their spot in the NBA play-in tournament.
The Hawks's lead over the Nets for the 10th spot was trimmed to three games tonight, but the two teams play each other again on Saturday and the Hawks can get the lead back up to four games if they can get a win.
But there is no other way to say, this was an ugly, ugly loss for the Hawks and a game that showed how much they miss Young.
