The undefeated season is no more.
The Atlanta Hawks were faced with a tough task at home tonight against the Houston Rockets and were unable to answer the call. Both teams were playing on the second night of a back-to-back, with Houston missing three key players in this game, but their defense carried them to a win and dropped the Hawks to 2-1. The two teams are going to see each other again on Monday, and we will see what kind of adjustments the Hawks can make between now and then.
So what are the biggest takeaways from the Hawks first loss of the season?
1. Three-point shooting went the other way for Atlanta
The Houston Rockets are one of the best defensive teams in the NBA and it is tough to put up a big three-point shooting number on them, but that was going to be one of the keys to victory for Atlanta. Given that Houston was likely going to have an advantage on the boards, even without Steven Adams, Atlanta needed to have a better night shooting. They did not get it, despite a hot start from beyond the arc from Nickeil Alexander-Walker.
Atlanta was a dreadful 13-for-48 from three (27%) while the Rockets were 14-for-35. The math was pretty simple. Houston was more effecient from three and that was a key part in why the Hawks lost
2. Houston had a big edge in second chance points
I could have told you that coming into the night, the Rockets were probably going to beat the Hawks on the boards, tilting the possession battle in their favor. Even without Adams, Amen Thompson, Kevin Durant, Jabari Smith Jr, and Alperen Sengun are very good rebounders and were going to give Houston a chance to tilt the game in their favor.
Until the end of the game, Houston had a 19-9 edge in second chance points, with the Hawks finding a way to close it up in the frantic final minutes of the game. Atlanta has to limit those on Monday night if they want to win.
3. Ineffective nights for CJ McCollum and Onyeka Okongwu
When you lose the way the Hawks did, ineffective on offense and trailing by double-digits for most of the night, it is not squarely on two players for the struggles.
But Atlanta could have been more in this game if they had gotten two better performances from CJ McCollum and Onyeka Okongwu. Neither player was very effective tonight
McCollum played better in the fourth quarter, scoring 10 of his 17 points, but it was a night to forget from Okongwu. He finished the game with eight points and seven rebounds, not making much of an impact on either end of the floor.
4. Hawks refused to give up
There were multiple times when it looked like the Rockets were going to win this game rather convincingly. They were the better team on the floor tonight, but Atlanta continued to battle and made it a game very late in the fourth quarter.
After a pair of free throws from Onyeka Okongwu cut the lead to five, Atlanta got a steal and Jalen Johnson got a clean look at the basket, but could not put the shot in to cut the lead to three. Houston got the ball back and Kevin Durant knocked down two free throws and iced the game. If Atlanta had played more consistent through the first three quarters of the game, they would have perhaps won the game, but some credit goes to them for not mailing it in on the second night of a back-to-back against a very good team.
Add us as a preferred source on Google