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Durant, Harden Shine. Nets Defeat Hawks 113-105

The Hawks fall to 13-13.

Pat Benson

© Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
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The Hawks struggle against championship contenders continues. The Nets knocked off the Hawks in front of a sellout crowd in State Farm Arena on Friday. Kevin Durant and James Harden combined for 51 points with relative ease.

Despite shooting a horrid 26.1% from deep, the Nets found other ways to score. They were able to outscore the Hawks in fastbreak points and points in the paints. Cam Thomas and Bruce Brown both provided a nice scoring punch off the bench (combined 26 points), while the team still deals with the loss of Joe Harris to ankle surgery.

Trae Young led the Hawks with 31 points and 10 assists (he keeps making history). Kevin Huerter had one of his best outside shooting nights of the season (5-7, 71%). No surprise, John Collins and Clint Capela feasted against the Nets geriatric frontcourt.

Another silver lining from tonight's loss was the return of Cam Reddish - albeit not his best performance. After missing the last four games, Reddish had visible rust. He scored four points (all free throws) while shooting 0-6 from the field in 17 minutes. But it's great for the Hawks to have him back on the court, and it's a matter of time before he returns to form.

Following the game, Hawks coach Nate McMillan credited the Nets switching defense for giving the Hawks offense problems. "I thought we were doing a good job the first three quarters of attacking their switches. But the fourth quarter we started to stand. I thought we settled in that fourth quarter, really the second half."

McMillan's point guard took more than his fair share of credit for the defeat. Young said, "I got to do a better job of making some shots for us in the fourth. I had a floater that fell out, a couple layouts that got blocked. I just got to be better as far as making some more shots in the fourth. And I just think we'll be better."

Although he was red hot tonight, Kevin Hurter spoke on the offensive issues. "We definitely played into their hands. It seemed like we were coming off, and they were switching high. It felt like it was a lot of one-on-one. In this specific game, we weren't winning those matchups."

The Hawks next game is Monday in State Farm Arena against the Houston Rockets. Always, we will have plenty of content to hold you over until then. Stay locked into Sports Illustrated's AllHawks.com.

Hawks Stats Leaders

Trae Young - 31 PTS, 10 AST

John Collins - 20 PTS, 6 REB

Kevin Huerter - 19 PTS, 2 STL

Nets Stats Leaders

Kevin Durant - 31 PTS, 6 REB

James Harden - 20 PTS, 11 AST

LaMarcus Aldrige, - 15 PTS, 3 STL

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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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