Hawks vs. Kings Live Notebook
The Hawks and Kings will tip off just after 7:30 ET Friday night for what could be an important game for each team's confidence and momentum. Atlanta (3-4) is coming off its worst loss of the season to date after a lifeless performance on Wednesday, while the Kings (2-6) are still trying to find the rhythm that guided them to 39 wins last season.
In theory, this will be a highly entertaining tangle between two of the NBA's fastest and most exciting young teams -- each led by a dynamic point guard under the age of 22. Atlanta's Trae Young enters the game averaging 24 points and 7.5 assists (those numbers are still slightly depressed from having only played 11 minutes against the Heat) on 59.7 true shooting and 7.7 3-point attempts per game. Kings point guard De'Aaron Fox is a candidate for the fastest player in the league and helps galvanize a frequently devastating transition attack alongside Buddy Hield.
Below are the most salient observations, updated in real time, from Friday's game.
Pregame
Lloyd Pierce confirmed that he will start the same lineup he did against the Bulls (Young, Cam Reddish, De'Andre Hunter, Jabari Parker, and Alex Len). It seems that group will continue to start for the foreseeable future, though Pierce noted that Kevin Huerter could find his way into that unit (presumably in place of Reddish) once he fully regains his rhythm coming off a knee injury.
Kings head coach Luke Walton said pregame that he'd like to use Fox's speed as a weapon more frequently. Sacramento led the NBA in transition frequency last season, but has fallen to the middle of the pack at the start of this year. The team has begun pushing the pace more in the last few games and Walton feels his team's pace is trending in the right direction.
First Quarter
Both teams are off to a strong start offensively through eight minutes and change. The Kings lead 29-24 thanks to some inattentiveness on defense by Atlanta and 5-of-8 shooting from 3. Buddy Hield has nine points -- though he's taken as many shots to get there.
The Hawks are 5-of-9 at the rim early on thanks in large part to Trae Young probing and finding rollers and cutters for dunks. Young has not been good on defense, twice allowing Hield to simply drive through him in transition.
Atlanta's center rotation remains a mystery; Alex Len started and played the first five minutes before giving way to Bruno Fernando, but Damian Jones checked in just three minutes later.
Second Quarter
The Kings continue to generate open 3s off of kick-out passes. The Hawks are helping pretty liberally on Sacramento's drives which is opening up the arc for the visitors.
Through 15 minutes of play, the Kings' effective field goal percentage is a staggering 68.5 percent, while the Hawks are shooting just 43.5 percent (weighted for the value of 3-pointers). Atlanta is generating decent shots, but in keeping with what has been a season-long trend, can't seem to hit them.
De'Aaron Fox is putting his speed and burst on display as he skates past Parker for a nice contested finish, then crosses DeAndre' Bembry over in transition on his way to a one-hand tomahawk with the left hand. Sacramento is beginning to stretch this one out -- it leads 46-34.
The Hawks defense is beginning to crumble. Missed shots and turnovers (of which Atlanta only has four so far) are helping jumpstart Fox on the break, and Sacramento is still scalding hot from 3 (7-of-13) and at the rim (8-of-11). Kings lead 57-38 with 3:08 to play in the first half.
The Hawks make a bit of an offensive push to close the half as Young finds a few cracks in the Sacramento defense, but Atlanta remains porous on the other end. The Kings scored an astronomical 1.43 points per possession in the first half while Atlanta mustered only 1.04. That mark isn't far off from what the Hawks' offense has produced in its other games, but Atlanta has been good enough defensively to balance it out. We're seeing how ugly it can be when the defense doesn't hold up.
Kings lead 63-47 at half.
Third Quarter
Kevin Huerter starts the second half in place of Cam Reddish (this could be a harbinger of lineup changes to come), and Trae Young starts the third quarter with a high floater in the lane. Hawks will need to ramp up their energy to find their way back into this one. Kings lead 65-49.
Young gets T'ed up for arguing an out-of-bounds call and Buddy Hield makes the free throw. After a nice block by Alex Len, Young is whistled for a dubious offensive foul, but the Hawks challenge and the call is reversed. Young was out talking to official Kevin Scott during the ensuing Kings timeout, presumably about the use of his off-arm on drives.
The Hawks use a 10-0 run to cut the lead to eight, and the Kings call timeout. Alex Len has helped anchor Atlanta's defensive effort during that run, and Young has galvanized the offense with his passing. He threw a ridiculous behind-the-back laser to Parker off his own 3-point miss, and after Parker missed the layup, Bembry finished it off with a nice reverse layup. A possession later, Young spots Huerter for a right-wing triple. Kings lead 72-64.
Young has taken control in the third, hitting a series of floaters and layups before stepping back into a 3 against De'Aaron Fox to cut the deficit to five.
With Fox off the floor, the Kings downsize with Trevor Ariza at power forward and Dewayne Dedmon at center -- both threats to shoot -- and Buddy Hield encounters no help defense as he drives to the basket to stretch his team's lead back out to seven. Kevin Huerter counters with an and-one and this one is as close as it's been since the opening minutes. Kings lead 84-80.
The Kings put their foot back on the gas to close the third, culminating in a corner 3 by Bogdan Bogdanović to beat the buzzer after Atlanta loses him. The Hawks can't afford those types of breakdowns if they want to complete this comeback. Kings lead 91-83 at the end of three.
Fourth Quarter
Big sequence for the Hawks to cut the lead to just one. They trap Fox high on the floor in the pick-and-roll, Young reads his pass all the way from the weak side, steals and pushes downcourt, finds Hunter, who swings it to Reddish, who drives in for a layup. You could see Young imploring his teammates to run with him, and a nice look-away on the pass triggered the ball-movement. The Kings call time, still leading 94-93.
After the Hawks came roaring back, the Kings have stretched the lead back out to 18, mostly with Fox and Hield on the bench. Trevor Ariza has been huge, hitting pull-up 3 after pull-up 3 on his way to 14 points. Bogdanović hit a pivotal 3 as the shot clock expired at the 8:52 mark, and the Kings have been piling it on ever since. Bogdanovicć and Ariza are a combined 9-of-11 from deep, and that's been the difference.
The Hawks have tried dialing up the defensive pressure, but Sacramento has moved the ball and found open shooters out of it. Kings lead 116-98.
Prior to the game, Lloyd Pierce said that Bogdan Bogdanović "looked like Jordan" in this summer's World Cup, and Bogey has looked the part again tonight. The Serbian has 20 points on eight shots, and has been Sacramento's offensive focal point in the fourth quarter. Fox and Hield will finish this one out from the bench as the Kings bench closes out the Hawks, 121-109.
