Three Takeaways From Hawks 122-99 Loss to Charlotte

Atlanta goes into the All-Star Break on a two-game losing streak

It was not long ago when it looked like the Hawks might have been turning a corner on their season, but that has gone away in the past two games. 

The Hawks went on the road last night and gave the Hornets their largest margin of victory this season. The Hornets have been arguably the worst team in the NBA this season, but Atlanta looked like a team that was ready to get to the All-Star break and had no interest in playing another game. 

Atlanta is now 24-31 after last night's loss and they head into the All-Star on a two-game losing streak. They still hold the 10th spot in the Eastern Conference. 

So what are the big takeaways from last night's loss?

1. Atlanta goes into the All-Star Break with zero momentum

Recently, the Hawks gathered wins over the Suns, Lakers, Warriors, and Rockets, while also playing the Clippers and Celtics down to the wire. They appeared to be getting healthier than they had been all season and it was reasonable to think that the Hawks might start climbing up the standings. 

That all went away this week. 

The Hawks gave up 136 points (a season-high) to the Bulls on Monday and the defensive effort was poor. Last night, the Hawks lost by 23 to Charlotte, a team that had not won a game by double-digits all season. 

The rest of the season after the All-Star Break is going to be huge for the Hawks's future. If they have more performances like this and just barely make the play-in tournament, there is going to be a lot of rumors and chatter about this team in the summer. 

Hornets forward Grant Williams vs the Hawks / Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports

2. Trae Young and Dejounte Murray had another poor performance

When the Hawks have poor shooting performances from both Murray and Young, the odds are that the Hawks are going to lose the game. 

Young had 19 points and Murray had 17, but they shot a combined 10-31 from the field and 4-18 from three on Monday night against the Bulls. You could make the case that the reason for that was the Bulls have a solid defense, but that is not the case you can make for last night. 

Young shot 4-12 from the field and 2-8 from three for 12 points. Murray was 5-15 from the field and 1-7 from three. Against one of the worst defenses in the NBA, the Hawks star backcourt came up short and it was a big reason for the Hawks losing. 

3. The Three-Point Shooting had an off night

The Hawks did not shoot well from beyond the arc and it hurt the offense and did not allow Atlanta to try and crawl back into the game. 

Atlanta was 9-38 (24%) from three last night. Jalen Johnson and Garrison Matthews combined to shoot 0-8, Young was 2-8, and Murray was 1-7. 

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