'Somebody's Gotta Step Up': Hawks Lack Spirit, Communication Against Knicks

Lloyd Pierce maligned his team's energy and togetherness after losing to the Knicks. What can Atlanta do to fix that?

The Hawks’ most recent loss to the Knicks would have been more understandable were it a first-time occurrence. Every so often in the NBA, one team has confidence, energy, and a hot hand while the other doesn’t, and those nights usually result in lopsided outcomes. But Atlanta has a perplexing habit of pushing the NBA’s elite teams to the brink and rolling over against significantly weaker ones. Despite legitimately challenging the Bucks, Sixers, Raptors, and Lakers, the Hawks have been blown out by the Bulls (twice), Suns, Pistons, and now, the New York Knicks – forming a discouraging trend for this young team.

Consistency is one of the greatest separators in the NBA. Any team can beat any opponent on a given night, but only a select few play well enough to win in nearly every game. Talent factors heavily in that equation, but so too do execution and effort. Two days after a five-point loss to the mighty Lakers, the Hawks never stood a chance against the hapless Knicks, who dominated Tuesday night’s affair from the jump. Any momentum or encouragement Atlanta might have taken from Sunday’s close loss to L.A. died with the Hawks’ spirit on the floor of Madison Square Garden. 

It wasn’t just that the Knicks shot 55.8 percent from the floor or 46.4 percent on 3-pointers that created a titled final score. It was lack of effort that allowed it to happen. “It’s tough when you come off of an effort you had on Sunday against the Lakers, and you come here and we didn’t hit first and we played on our heels,” Lloyd Pierce said after Tuesday’s game. “We let a lot of things affect our effort. And that’s the biggest thing. I keep talking about competitive spirit, trying to find that effort, and we don’t have it right now.”

"I keep talking about competitive spirit and trying to find that effort. And we don't have it right now."@ATLHawks coach Lloyd Pierce discusses his team's loss to the Knicks. pic.twitter.com/RpgPn12f4x

— Bally Sports: Hawks (@HawksOnBally) December 18, 2019

At some point during a blowout loss, a team should find within itself the pride and will to change the game’s tenor, if only for the sake of its own dignity. Atlanta never found it for more than a few minutes at a time, and looked just as disheartened watching Mitchell Robinson crush alley-oops in the game’s final minutes as it did when Marcus Morris and R.J. Barrett sliced up their defense in the first half.

Tuesday was the result of a larger, systematic disconnect within this team. That isn’t to say the Hawks dislike one another or can’t play well together. Their problem is one of communication and togetherness. It’s not enough in the NBA for each member of a team to be on the same page; that like-mindedness must manifest on the court through frequent and focused interaction. Teammates should empower, help, and motivate one another, but that cohesion has yet to form for these Hawks.

“Really the issue is the interaction with one another,” Pierce said. “When you have a lot of young guys that don’t use their voice, you have a lot of guys that are still trying to find their way, they have to learn how to interact with one another, and that’s really important.”

That lack of connectedness seems to erode their energy, which gives them no shot of hanging with opponents that play hard for a full 48 minutes. The Knicks are not a good, or well-run, basketball team, but they consistently play with intensity against every opponent. Atlanta’s inability to do so created a gap between the two teams that no amount of talent could fill. Trae Young finished with 42 points and eight assists on Tuesday, but his production felt hollow given the score and the lack of verve with which the Hawks played. (He also played 41 minutes in the blowout, which gave him more opportunity to juice his numbers.) The Hawks only turned the ball over 10 times and scored a respectable 1.07 points per possession, but none of it ever felt as though it were contributing to any meaningful end, and it was more than balanced out by an embarrassing showing on the other end of the floor.

The Knicks, who entered the game with the NBA’s least efficient offense and lowest effective field goal percentage, posted a 136.6 offensive rating and 63.7 effective field goal percentage. Over 40 percent of their shots came at the rim, where they shot 75 percent and met little resistance from Atlanta’s defense. While New York’s shooters made a few difficult shots, the Hawks gifted them far too many uncontested ones. The Knicks scored 1.12 points per possession in the halfcourt – perhaps the most glaring indicator of Atlanta’s sluggishness.

Issues of communication and execution don’t fix themselves. Time will help the Hawks grow more vocal and connected as their young players mature, but the process will depend mostly on the players themselves taking that maturation into their own hands. Atlanta doesn’t have a clear or stated vocal leader on its roster, and while barking, fanatical rabble-rousers aren’t usually necessary, every team needs its players to simply speak up.

“I don’t think you can go in that locker room and find a lot of loud guys,” Pierce said. “But these guys know as we move forward, somebody’s gotta step up, and right now it should be all of them trying to step up a little bit more.”