RECAP: Atlanta Uses Dominant Second Half To Bury New Orleans 126-111 and End Their Four-Game Losing Streak

Atlanta moves to 3-4 and now faces Boston at home tomorrow night

Nov 3, 2024; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson (1) dribbles against New Orleans Pelicans guard Javonte Green (4) during the first half at Smoothie King Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-Imagn Images / Stephen Lew-Imagn Images

Atlanta needed to get a win tonight vs a short-handed New Orleans Pelicans team and that is what they did. After a close first half, Atlanta shot the lights out of the ball and proceeded to win comfortably vs the Pelicans 1126-111.

While the Hawks were a beat up team coming into the game, the Pelicans had to go really deep in their bench for this one. New Orleans was missing Dejounte Murray, CJ McCollum, Herb Jones, Trey Murphy and then close to tipoff, Zion Williamson was ruled out. It turned into a must win for Atlanta and they responded.

Jalen Johnson was the star of the game tonight for Atlanta. He was close to tallying a triple double as he finished with 29 points, nine rebounds, and eight assists on 12-20 shooting. One of the themes tonight was the Hawks dominating in the paint and Johnson did his damage there.

It was a typical Trae Young performance. He finished with 23 points and 12 assists and nailed five three pointers. When the Hawks pulled away in the third quarter, Young led the way on offense.

Dyson Daniels made his return to the starting lineup tonight and he finished with 16 points, five rebounds, and three assists. Daniels has been missed in the lineup and having him back is huge for Atlanta.

Zaccharie Risacher continued to struggle shooting the ball from three, but like he has for most of the year, he found other ways to impact the game. He finished with 11 points, five rebounds, and three steals.

Onyeka Okongwu was out tonight for Atlanta, but this is where the luxury of having Larry Nance factors in. Nance was terrific off the bench, scoring 14 points and grabbing six rebounds and played the majority of the minutes tonight at center. Clint Capela finished with eight points and four rebounds in nearly 21 minutes.

David Roddy, Garrison Matthews, and Keaton Wallace were the other bench players in the game for Atlanta. Matthews had a great second quarter, but got into foul trouble later and finished with 11 points.

Yes the Pelicans were extremely shorthanded, but the Hawks have not been lucky in the injury department either and needed a win in the worst way. They have a back-to-back tomorrow and the opponent is none other than the Boston Celtics. The Celtics have looked dominant to start the year and the Hawks are going to need to play a close to perfect game to beat them.

Let's recap tonight's win.

Tonight, the Hawks started Trae Young, Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher, Jalen Johnson, and Clint Capela.

New Orleans started Jose Alvarado, Jordan Hawkins, Brandon Ingram, Javonte Green, and Yves Missi.

The Hawks started off really well on the defensive end against New Orleans. The Pelicans did not score in the first three minutes of the game and at the first timeout with 7:04 left in the first, the Hawks led 13-4. New Orleans is 2-10 from the floor. Risacher was leading the way for the Hawks in the early going with five points and four rebounds.

Dyson and Zacch combine for the steal, and the kid gets the jam 💪 pic.twitter.com/Q1CpRiMvDq

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) November 4, 2024

Atlanta went with a nine-man rotation tonight against New Orleans. Garrison Matthews, Larry Nance, Keaton Wallace, and David Roddy were the Hawks bench unit tonight. Coming in, Atlanta appeared to have a clear advantage on paper against the Pelicans in terms of the bench, but New Orleans bench was one of the stories of the first half.

New Orleans got it going towards the end of the quarter and finished well offensively. Ingram led the way with 10 points for the Pelicans and the Hawks only led 33-30 at the end of the first. Risacher finished the first quarter with nine points and four rebounds while Johnson had seven points. After a rough start to the quarter, the Pelicans finished 8-14 from the field.

The second quarter saw the Hawks offense struggle and the Pelicans took advantage and it was not all just Ingram. As mentioned earlier, the Pelicans bench was huge in the first half. Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Brandon Boston, and Daniel Theis combined for 13 points in the quarter and they tied the game with 5:51 left in the first half. One notable thing about the first half was that Trae Young sat for a long period of time. He has played 40+ minutes in the last two games and with a game against Boston looming on Monday night, he needed a longer break in the first.

-Trae gets doubled, finds Dyson
-CC cuts to the rim, Dyson fakes it to him
-Dyson hits wide-open Garrison in the corner 🤩 pic.twitter.com/Wg5ZVb46xU

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) November 4, 2024

While the Pelicans had a great start to the second quarter, Atlanta used a 13-3 run to get the lead back. Matthews had a huge second quarter, scoring 11 points. New Orleans was able to retake the lead 59-58 right at the half thanks to a buzzer beater from Jose Alvarado.

Atlanta shot 46% from the field in the first half and 33% from three. New Orleans shot 45% from the field and 50% from three. Three point defense and shooting has been an issue for the season and even against a short-handed Pelicans team, that was the case.

Johnson led the way for the Hawks with 13 points, four rebounds, and three assists. Ingram had 16 points to lead the way for New Orleans. The Pelicans bench had 25 points in the first half.

The Hawks ran away from New Orleans in the second half. They opened with a 7-0 run and then proceeded to hit eight of their first ten shots. They got the lead to 83-71 quickly and had a 25-12 start to the quarter. Young was leading the way on offense with six points and six assists in the early going.

Trae drills two deep 3s 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/LTzep0b79p

— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) November 4, 2024

Atlanta shot 79% from the field and 67% from three in the third quarter, while New Orleans only shot 36% from the floor and 33% from three. Jordan Hawkins and Brandon Ingram combined for 19 of the Pelicans 26 points in the third quarter.

Jalen Johnson led the way in the fourth quarter as the Hawks put the Pelicans away. He dominated inside and the Hawks's defense was clamping up the Pelicans, who had limited offensive options tonight. Atlanta quickly got the lead to double-digits in the quarter and never looked back. Johnson scored 11 of his 29 points in the final quarter and the Hawks shot 61%. They have had struggles in the second half of games this season, but did what they had to tonight.

This win moves Atlanta to 3-4 and now they face a challenging back-to-back. The Boston Celtics are going to be at State Farm Arena tomorrow night and the defending champions are 6-1 to start the season.