Double-Double From Zaccharie Risacher Fails to Salvage A Frustrating Hawks Loss to the Orlando Magic, 114-108

Atlanta drops its first game out of the break against an opponent they had every chance to put away.

Rohan Raman | Feb 20, 2025

Feb 20, 2025; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero (5) is defended by Atlanta Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher (10) during the first half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

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Atlanta Hawks

The Hawks went into the All-Star break with a 149-148 loss in the clutch to an excellent Knicks team in a game that could be reasonably described as a moral victory. Coming out of the break, they lost again in the clutch, but in a much more frustrating way. They couldn't capitalize on a poor start from the Magic, got themselves back into the game and ultimately failed to get the stops late to secure the win.

Trae Young had 38 points and five assists, but he struggled as a ball-handler tonight. He turned the ball over five times in an uncharacteristically rough display. Onyeka Okongwu and Zaccharie Risacher both had 11, but the real surprise was Risacher's 12 rebounds that gave him the first double-double of his career. Daniels was relatively quiet tonight with 10 points while Mo Gueye really struggled tonight. He only scored two points and struggled on defense. The Hawks only played him 15 minutes and had to rely heavily on Georges Niang, Caris LeVert and Terence Mann. LeVert chipped in 13 off the bench while Niang hit two threes and Mann scored seven points to go with three assists.

The Magic got an excellent game from Paolo Banchero, who had 36 points, 11 rebounds and five assists. Franz Wagner had a good complementary game with 25 points of his own to go with seven rebounds and five assists. Cole Anthony scored 17 for the Magic while Wendell Carter Jr pulled down 11 boards.

Let's recap tonight's game.

Banchero and Wagner both threw down dunks to start the game before Young got fouled and put Atlanta on the board by splitting his free throws. Although Atlanta started off the quarter slow, they turned things around with an excellent first quarter. With the score at 8-7, the Hawks peeled off a 17-1 run as they extended possesions with rebounding and kept the Magic from putting anything together on offense. Wagner broke Orlando's dry spell with a layup to make it 24-11, but Young responded right back with a bucket off the feed from Niang. The combination of Young and Niang has been very effective on offense and they utilized it again to get Niang a three-pointer to make it a 30-13 lead. Although the Magic went on an 8-3 run to close the quarter out, it was a very encouraging performance from the team immediately out of the All-Star break. Interestingly, the Hawks built up that lead despite shooting 7-19 on their two-point attempts.

Things got a little tighter in the second quarter. Mann extended the lead to 14 after Young found him for an easy jumper. On Atlanta's next possession, Mann returned the favor by finding Young for an open three-pointer. Mann's offense hasn't been the most consistent in his first few games as a Hawk, but he does do a lot of helpful, connective things on that end even when his scoring isn't there. Clint Capela also checked in for his first appearance after the All-Star break and looked comfortable, grabbing a missed shot from Young and tipping it back in. However, the Hawks hit a rough stretch soon after as they struggled to slow down the Magic without fouling. Mann found Okongwu for another jumper, but Banchero put Okongwu in a difficult position and sank both of the free throws following the shooting foul. Anthony Black got fouled by Gueye and sank his free throws as well to give Orlando's stagnant offense some life. The two fouls in succession made it a 44-31 game before the Hawks attempted to respond with a nice finish around the rim from Risacher, but it got blocked by Black. Again, Risacher took some creation responsibilities into his own hands and tried to spark something for Atlanta on a jumper, but it fell short and Banchero took it back for a powerful dunk.

In their last game, the Hawks struggled to slow Banchero and Wagner down. It became evidence in the second quarter that they were in for more of the same for this one. Orlando kept chipping into Atlanta's lead and eventually cut it to a nine-point deficit on another Banchero jumper to make it a 49-40 game. Banchero then found Wagner for an easy bucket and the duo terrorized Atlanta down the stretch of the first half with timely buckets from Anthony. Atlanta does not have good matchups for the size that Wagner and Banchero present with, so it came as little surprise when Wagner tied the game at 56 apiece with a jumper at the 31-second minute mark in the half. A responding bucket from Young did little to assuage the Hawks' concerns because on the next possession, Banchero beat the clock and drained a step-back three to give Orlando a narrow 59-58 lead heading into half.

At halftime, the Hawks were shooting 41.7% from the field and a respectable 38.5% from three-point range (5 of 13 attempts). However, they missed five free throws in the half and got outstripped in transition. The Magic scored 17 points on fast breaks to Atlanta's nine and their inability to run in transition contributed to their lackluster offense during the back of the first half. Trae Young led Atlanta with 18 points in one of his better halves as a scorer. Young's usually excellent passing wasn't as sharp tonight - he lost the ball three times and essentially countered the three assists he recorded in the first half. Risacher only scored five points in the half, but pulled down an impressive eight rebounds as he played a crucial role in Atlanta's success in offensive rebounding. Daniels and Okongwu both scored eight points. The Hawks' bench chipped in an additional 17 points and played a huge role in keeping the team afloat. Considering Orlando's brutal numbers from deep (1-10 on threes) and inability to slow down Young, there was reason to be optimistic that Atlanta could take this one and begin to make a statement post-ASB.

Although the Hawks' offense came out of the break flat, Risacher had an excellent defensive stand on Banchero, poking the ball from Orlando's star power forward and finding Daniels for a good look on the perimeter, It didn't go in, but those are the types of playmaking examples that you want to see from a young win. It is excellent to see that Risacher is beginning to see the whole court much better and he certainy looked like it after draining a three-pointer to make it a 65-63 game. Down only two points, the Hawks immediately saw their hopes of mounting a run crushed by a nice finish from Banchero to give the Magic some breathing room. Anthony hit another jumper before Caldwell-Pope buried the triple and forced Snyder to call a timeout.

Fortunately, the Hawks instantly looked more composed as Young connected on his patented floater before Atlanta took a loose ball fall and turned it into another Risacher three-pointer. Risacher's shooting has looked much better as of late and it's encouraging to see he can find it against a difficult Magic defense. Sadly, the offense reverted to being lackluster for most of the third quarter. Atlanta couldn't get any clean looks from deep and needed to score in the paint and at the foul line to claw back into the game. Those opportunities failed to materialize — a nice offensive quarter from Caris LeVert and Dominick Barlow largely went unnoticed as the Hawks ended the quarter down nine points, 90-81.

It was now do-or-die for the Hawks in the fourth quarter and they needed to find themselves fast. Fortunately, they got a spark after Barlow stepped out for a three-pointer off the pass from Mann. Barlow hasn't played many minutes for Atlanta, but he's largely been a passable backup center with some hints of offensive upside. Plays like that give him a compelling case to stick around and continue developing in College Park. Of course, the engine of Atlanta's offense in the clutch is Trae Young and that held true tonight. He made a difficult pull-up jumper after practically running into the shot, found Mann for an easy dunk and hit a jumper after Risacher ended another Magic possession by getting the defensive rebound. Now down 98-91, the Hawks had all the momentum and Anthony tried to break things up by hitting both of his free throws to give Orlando a reprieve. It made little difference - Daniels made an excellent pass to Niang on the perimeter and he buried the three-pointer to make it a 100-94 game. Daniels then turned Anthony over on the very next play. While his struggles as a shooter complicated Atlanta's offense, Daniels' recent offensive success has helped him stay on the court. It's been incredibly frustrating for opposing ball-handlers.

After a pretty quiet game, LeVert came up big with a floater and it started to look like Atlanta would have a chance in this one. Banchero struggled for most of the quarter and another miss from him ended up in the hands of Niang, who got it to Okongwu. He then found Young for another floater and Young got fouled, making it a 3-point play that the Hawks desperately needed. The Hawks then took advantage of a Carter miss from deep to tie it up on a layup from Young. However, Anthony instantly responded with a jumper to give Orlando the lead back and a three on the Magic's next possession. It neutralized a nice bucket from LeVert to give Atlanta a chance. Perhaps fittingly, Banchero then responded with his first non-FT points of the quarter - a three-pointer to give the Magic a 109-103 lead with two minutes left. The Hawks got two more solid possessions, but Young missed a three-pointer and then a floater to effectively seal Atlanta's fate.

Atlanta ended the game shooting a ghastly 39.4% from the field and 31.4% from deep. They got out-worked in transition, 26-14 and couldn't use a middling performance from Orlando's bench (21 combined points to Atlanta's 36) to their advantage. This was one of the more winnable games in their upcoming slate and they'll need to regroup fast before the Pistons come to town on Sunday.

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