All Hawks

Denver Nuggets Smoke Atlanta Hawks 133-115

The Hawks are below .500 again.

Pat Benson

© Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
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Recap

For the third straight Friday night, the Hawks lost in front of their home crowd. Unfortunately, a troubling trend of losing to contenders persists. The defense looks as lost as ever. Even worse, their coach is questioning his players' effort.

The Nuggets scored a season-high 133 points thanks to their red hot shooting. The team shot 50-86 (58.1%) from the field and 17-38 (44.7%) from deep. Monte Morris, Nikola Jokic, and Jeff Green all scored 20+ points. 

On the flip side, the Hawks struggled offensively. Most notably, their outside shooting 7-24 (29.2%) is uncharacteristic of this team. We shouldn't expect too many nights like that. However, if Hawks fans are looking for silver linings, the Hawks big three looked good. Trae Young, John Collins, and Clint Capela all had above-average performances.

Perhaps most importantly, Onyeka Okongwu made his season debut tonight. If you were expecting a rusty, second-year player lacking self-confidence, then you were dead wrong. Instead, Okongwu scored 10 points (4-4 from the field, 2-2 from the line) in just 14 minutes. His presence on the court was a breath of fresh air.

Post-Game Press Conference

After the game, Hawks coach Nate McMillan said his team was never able to establish themselves defensively. "Wasn't able to control the ball, keep the ball in front of us. Give up 60 points in the paint. We really didn't stop anything. They were hitting threes and pretty much scoring at will."

When asked about his players' effort, McMillan cast doubt for the first time this season. "As I said to them, I haven't questioned their effort. But tonight, there is a concern. I didn't like what I saw out there tonight, and we got to commit to playing defense out there. It can't be about scoring." But, again, McMillan once again reiterated his theory that the shooting struggles resulted in haphazard defense.

Trae Young told the media that a lack of communication on defense caused the lapses. However, he agreed with his coach on the lack of effort. "Obviously it wasn't enough effort."

John Collins was blunt in his assessment. When asked if the Hawks gave enough, the power forward said, "Usually, I would say yes. But tonight, hell no. We got to do a better job." 

The Hawks have a much-needed practice tomorrow. Then on Sunday night, they host the Cleveland Cavaliers. Stay locked into Sports Illustrated's AllHawks.com for breaking news, highlights, and analysis.

Stats

Hawks Leaders

Trae Young - 34 PTS, 10 AST

John Collins - 20 PTS, 10 REB

Clint Capela - 15 PTS, 11 REB

Nuggets Leaders

Monte Morris - 21 PTS, 3 REB

Nikola Jokic - 20 PTS, 10 REB

Jeff Green - 20 PTS, 5 REB

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Pat Benson
PAT BENSON

Pat Benson covers the Atlanta Hawks for Sports Illustrated's All Hawks. He has covered the NBA for several years and is the author of "Kobe Bryant's Sneaker History (1996-2020)".

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