RECAP: Atlanta Defeats Brooklyn 120-116 To Start the Season 1-0

Atlanta did not play a perfect game by any means, but the Hawks ended up getting the win tonight over the Nets

Oct 23, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Brooklyn Nets center Nic Claxton (33) commits a flagrant two foul resulting in ejection on Atlanta Hawks guard Dyson Daniels (5) during the second half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images / Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Atlanta, GA- It was far from perfect, but the Atlanta Hawks have started their season 1-0 after defeating the Brooklyn Nets 120-116.

While Brooklyn is projected to be among the worst teams in the league, this was the first regular season game that this new-look Hawks team had played together and you saw the upside that this team has in the win. Trae Young looked like himself, dropping 30 points and 12 assists, Dyson Daniels was a menace on defense and got five steals as well as playing good defense for most of the night on Nets guard Cam Thomas, and Onyeka Okongwu came off the bench to score a career-high 28 points on 11-12 shooting. The defense was strong in this game, but what might be encouraging is that the Hawks played far from their best game and still found a way to win.

There were a myriad of issues for the Hawks tonight. Jalen Johnson played far from his best game, finishing with 11 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. He was not terrible by any means, but he had big struggles at the free throw line (more on that in a second) and committed six turnovers.

Bogdan Bogdanovic also did not play super well in this game. He only scored eight points, all in the second half, and was a non-factor for most of the evening.

The free throw shooting was very bad in this game for the Hawks. On one hand, they had 46 attempts (their most in two seasons), but they missed 13 of them, going 33-46. Johnson was 3-8 and Daniels was 1-4. Young picked up the slack when it came to the free throw shooting tonight.

The No. 1 overall pick made his regular season debut and despite hitting his first career shot attempt, Risacher did not have a strong night overall, finishing with seven points on 2-8 shooting and going 2-4 from the line.

One of the main things to watch tonight was when Trae Young was off the floor and the Hawks were not very good in those minutes. They were +12 whenever Young was on the floor and -8 when he was off. Going forward, that is going to be something to monitor.

Still at the end of the day, a win is a win. The Hawks had subpar games from their second and third best players and still won. That is impressive no matter the opponent and it is better to be 1-0 heading into Friday's game vs Charlotte instead of 0-1.

Let's recap tonight's game in Atlanta.

The Hawks went with the same starting lineup that they showed in the preseason. Trae Young, Dyson Daniels, De'Andre Hunter, Jalen Johnson, and Clint Capela.

Brooklyn's first five on the floor were Dennis Schroder, Cam Thomas, Cam Johnson, Dorian Finney-Smith, and Ben Simmons.

It was a really good start for the Hawks in this game. De'Andre Hunter hit a three on the first shot attempt of the season and after a Brooklyn miss, Daniels came down on the other end and nailed a three as well. It was 6-0 in the blink of an eye and 13-4 soon after.

With 3:43 left in the first quarter, No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher checked in for the first time and on his first shot attempt, he nailed a three with an assist from Young. After a great preseason, it was great to see him come in the game and have the confidence to let it fly immediately.

ZACCH SCORES ON HIS FIRST TOUCH 🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/1O0b0Lb3h1

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) October 24, 2024

The defense for Atlanta was apparent from the start. Daniels was all over Cam Thomas, holding him to a 1-7 start from the field. Overall, the Hawks limited Brooklyn to 36% from the floor and 27% from three. The Hawks led 30-24 after the first, with Young dishing out six assists to go along with four points.

The second quarter was not as good as the first and it started when Young went to the bench. This was going to be something to watch coming into the game and the Hawks rolled with Vit Krejci running the offense to start the second quarter. Brooklyn opened the quarter on a 17-5 run to grab the lead and it was a 41-39 advantage for the Nets with 5:40 left in the first half.

Onyeka Okongwu only played in one preseason game leading up to tonight, but he had a tremendous first half and overall game. He hit his first seven shots and got up to 14 points.

An 11-5 run for the Hawks got things tied up 46-46, but the Nets closed the first half strong and led 55-51. Brooklyn had outscored the Hawks 32-21 in the quarter and the Hawks shot 1-8 from three. Okongwu led the Hawks with 14 points and Young had nine points and eight assists. Atlanta had only 16 points combined between Young, Johnson, and Bogdanovic, who was held scoreless in the first half.

The third quarter is where the Hawks offense got going again. Bogdanovic was the first sub off the bench again and scored five of his eight points in the quarter. Young was starting to get going and scored nine in the third and while Daniels had a terrific first half on defense, it was his offense in the third quarter that was standing out. Daniels scored eight points in the third quarter. The Hawks overall shot 53% in the quarter but only took three three-point shots, while Brooklyn took 13.

It was a tied game 83-83 after the third. Young and Daniels combined for 17 of the Hawks 32 points in the quarter.

The fourth quarter was an interesting one. Things got chippy between the two teams. Then when it looked like Atlanta was going to pull away, Cam Thomas and the Nets kept clawiing back in it.

With 8:03 remaining in the game, Daniels took a really hard foul that resulted in an ejection for Nets center Nic Claxton. After Daniels took the foul, he got in Claxton's face and none of the Hawks seemed to pleased with what happened.

Nets-Hawks get chippy after hard flagrant 2 call 😳

Nic Claxton was ejected pic.twitter.com/TYUhH5DjSP

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 24, 2024

There would be another hard foul later in the quarter between Cam Thomas and De'Andre Hunter, but no ejection. The Hawks showed a lot of fight in this game and let it be known that they were not going to be pushed around.

It looked like the Hawks were taking control of this game multiple times, but Thomas kept the Nets coming back. He scored 20 of the Nets 33 points in the quarter and was hitting some really tough shots. The good news for the Hawks is that they were hitting their free throws down the stretch (Young was 8-10 in the 4th) and Okongwu scored eight points to set a new career high with 28. When the buzzer sounded, the Hawks had a 120-116 win.

Next up for the Hawks is a home game vs the Charlotte Hornets, who also got a win tonight vs the Houston Rockets.