The Hawks’ surprise comeback victory against the Celtics on Monday served as testament, in part, to the growth of Atlanta’s developing young backups, writes Lauren Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The Hawks ultimately bested a top-seeded Boston team 120-118 after trailing by as many as 30 points. That marks the biggest rally in the league across the past 26 years. Williams notes that backups Vit Krejci and Bruno Fernando served as key pieces in the victory. The duo played big roles in part as a result of injuries to Bey, Jalen Johnson, Onyeka Okongwu and All-Star Trae Young.
“I mean, it’s a next-man mentality,” Krejci said. “We got a couple guys out. But we still believe that with the roster we have, right now, we can compete with anybody.”
The Hawks followed Monday’s victory up with a 120-106 win over the Trail Blazers on Wednesday and a 123-122 overtime victory over the Celtics tonight. Atlanta now finds itself in the midst of a four-game win streak. At 34-39, the team sits just one game behind the 35-38 Bulls for the East’s ninth seed.
There’s more out of the Southeast Division:
- Hawks small forward Saddiq Bey‘s surgery on his torn left ACL on Thursday was a success, Atlanta has announced (Twitter link). The Hawks reveal that Dr. Riley Williams at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York conducted the procedure, and that Bey will stay in New York for an estimated 10 days.
- Star Hornets point guard LaMelo Ball was ruled out for the season earlier today due to his lingering right ankle ailment, which is especially bittersweet given his impressive play prior to that injury, writes Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer. His 23.9 PPG and 1.8 SPG this year represented career highs, as did his 8.3 made field goals and 4.1 converted free throws. “I want to say the last nine games he played, he was top-five in scoring, top-five in assists and I think top two or three in crunch time scoring and crunch time assists,” head coach Steve Clifford said. “I think it was easy to get excited about and it’s also something he can build on… Look, injuries are a part of this league and, again, all I know is he’s been incredibly diligent. So, it’s not anybody’s fault. It’s just the way it’s worked out.” The injury-prone Ball, whose maximum rookie-scale salary extension kicks in next season, has only played more than 51 games in a season once, during his lone All-Star year in 2021/22.
- Several key Heat contributors could be back on the floor for the team soon, writes Anthony Chiang of The Miami Herald. Starting shooting guard Tyler Herro put in a shooting workout after practice on Thursday as he continues to gradually recuperate from his right foot medial tendinitis. “We don’t have a timeline [for a comeback], but yeah it’s definitely encouraging that he’s able to get on the wood and start to get ready,” head coach Erik Spoelstra said of Herro, who has missed 16 straight games since February 23. Reserve floor-spacing center Kevin Love has seen his status for Friday’s matchup with the lottery-bound Trail Blazers improved to probable as he continues to work his way back from a bruised right heel. Star swingman Jimmy Butler is also considered probable to return after sitting out the team’s Tuesday loss to the Heat with an illness.
Like I said Mazzulla is not a good coach. He can’t even beat Atlanta Hawks without their best player Trae Young. You live by the 3, you die by the 3. The only play Mazzulla knows.
Uh, you do realize that the C’s have the best record in the League and a top 3 point differential in NBA history, right?
That’s like saying “see, Phil Jackson isn’t a great coach” when the 1995 Bulls lost to the expansion Raptors.
Obviously not suggesting that Mazzula is anywhere close to Phil’s level, but to trash a coach for a single game in what is a historic season is nutty.
The Cs shot 39% from 3 last night. Their actual problem is that half the team decided not to play defense. Brown, Porzingis and Holiday were fine. Everybody else took a nap on that end inside the 3pt line.
Yes, Hawks were scoring too easily. But their offense was pathetic 3 pts aside. They dominated in transition then when things got tight it was Tatum at the top slowing things to a halt on every possession. He should know better by now. Move the ball move the ball move the ball
Can’t even really say that, tbh. They scored their team average number of points (122 to 121.2) and met their shooting accuracy from the field and from 3 (48% and 39%). Even had more assists than average (31 to 26.6). Very typical offensive game from them. But they fell short on rebounds and allowed the Hawks to dictate the rebound game. It’s why the Hawks had 28 second chance points. The inferior physicality and effort was why they lost, full-stop.
Granted, that’s actually a feature of their system, not a bug. They’re 14th in opponent’s total rebounds, and 23rd in opponent’s offensive rebounds per game this year. They focus on limiting initial high-percentage opportunities, much like the Cavs did last year (2nd in opponent’s FG%, 3rd in 3pt%). But the same weakness (they give up lots of shot attempts, don’t force turnovers, and can get out-rebounded by good teams) are present also.
*weaknesses, god, I can never spell that word correctly.
Typical maybe, but Hawks defense is not lights out. You could argue their performance should be above average against a team that’s not very good.
The rest of your point stands though, but it’s a bit concerning to see lack of effort in a “revenge” game for a team that still hasn’t shed its reputation of being soft. What’s the last team that was this good that still had so much to prove? Or is that just always the case.
I mean, until a team wins a chip (and after, if they have certain players on the team, according to some idiots), the general consensus is that they aren’t good enough. The Nuggets with Jokic, the Clippers with PG and Kawhi, the Harden Rockets, the OKC Big 3, The LeBron/Kyrie/KLove Cavs in 2015, the Miami Heat in 2011, every Embiid team, and the Raptors until 2019 have *all* gotten hit with that label at some point. Which is more indicative of NBA fans not knowing ball in some of those instances, but the point stands. Any team without a chip that doesn’t immediately win one or has lost in bad situations gets that label. It’s not even rare.
The point about the Hawks being exceptionally mid is fair, but they’ve shown they can turn it up. It’s not like they’re one of the last-place teams; they are still hanging on to the play-in. Aside from Trae’s injury, they’re basically the same team that took last year’s C’s to six games. They’re still a top 10 offense in the league this year, with a better offensive rating by over 2 PPG. That the Cs didn’t defend better is fair, as is them not scoring more against a bad defense, but getting outscored isn’t surprising, and Atlanta’s physicality and Boston’s lack thereof makes sense in context.
That Dejounte guy looks good at the point, who would of thought. Is it time to trade Trae yet?