When you look at the standings and the stats, you might not think that the Hawks hold any advantages over the Oklahoma City Thunder. OKC has been the NBA’s hottest team over the past couple of weeks and had victories over the Nuggets and the Celtics to show for it. They have been the topic of conversation around the NBA and are starting to be considered NBA title contenders.
Atlanta had one huge advantage tonight and that is called rest.
The Thunder got into Atlanta around 4:30 A.M. after defeating the Boston Celtics last night in one of the most impressive victories of any team this season. Atlanta had not played since their matchup against the Wizards on Sunday and due to that, the Hawks closed as the betting favorite at some Sportsbooks to the surprise of some.
Atlanta was only missing De’Andre Hunter and Mouhamed Gueye in this game and the Thunder had a clean injury report coming into the game.
The Hawks stuck with their starting lineup of Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, Saddiq Bey, Jalen Johnson, and Clint Capela for this game. OKC went with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey, Lou Dort, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren tonight.
You could tell immediately who the more well-rested team was tonight.
The Hawks raced out to an 11-0 start to the game and OKC started the game 0-6 from the field and had three turnovers. The Thunder had a really rough start to the game shooting the ball and just looked sloppy all around and to the Hawks’s credit, they took full advantage.
After struggling for the past few games, Bogdan Bogdanovic reminded people why he should be the front-runner for the 6th Man of the Year award. He finished the first quarter with 11 points and was making shots with ease and getting to his spot.
Quin Snyder’s rotations have been interesting with De’Andre Hunter sidelined and because the Thunder present some unique matchup problems, it was going to be something to watch. Patty Mills got some minutes in the past couple of games, but it was Trent Forrest joining Bogdanovic as the first guys off the bench for the Hawks tonight. Onyeka Okongwu and Garrison Matthews were the other bench guys for the Hawks tonight.
Atlanta led 39-25 after the first quarter.
The second quarter (and much of the game) belonged to Jalen Johnson, who has been very good since coming back from the injury that kept him out a month. Johnson scored 12 of his 14 first-half points in the second quarter and included a pair of incredible dunks in the process, including one over Holmgren, one of the front runners for defensive player of the year.
Atlanta kept the pedal down against the Thunder in the first half and led 76-59 at halftime.
If you have been paying close attention to the Hawks this year though, you know that no lead was safe and that the Hawks have lapses on offense that allows opponents to creep back into games. While Oklahoma City started off slow, teams on back-to-backs can get their legs under them for the second half.
That is what happened.
Both teams had huge third quarters on offense, with the Thunder outscoring the Hawks 44-40. Atlanta still led by 13 going into the fourth quarter, but there was an inevitable feeling that OKC was going to go on a run in the 4th.
The Hawks got the lead up to as much as 17 in the 4th, but the Thunder chipped away and it was because of their two young superstars. Jalen Williams and Gilgeous-Alexander combined for 22 points in the quarter and their on-ball pressure started to force the Hawks to get sloppy on that end of the floor and the Hawks offense went cold, like it had before. For the 4th quarter alone, OKC had an offensive rating of 148.8 while the Hawks had an offensive rating of 98.7, scoring 0.99 points per possession.
The Thunder cut the lead to three points with 3.2 seconds left and OKC inbounded the ball to Gilgeous-Alexander, who kicked it to Isaiah Joe in the corner, who missed the shot and the Hawks escaped with a home win over one of the NBA’s best teams 141-138. It was a good victory for Atlanta, despite some of the rest advantages they had over the Thunder.
Johnson was the star of the game for the Hawks, scoring a career-high 28 points to go along with seven rebounds and three assists. Young finished with 24 points and 11 assists, Bogdanovic had 23 points, Murray 22, and Capela had another double-double, finishing with 12 points and 14 rebounds.
The Hawks shot 50.5% from the field and 35.9% from three in the game. They held a 49-37 edge in rebounding over the Thunder, who came into the game 28th in offensive rebounding percentage.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 33 points, 13 rebounds, and eight assists while Jalen had 21 points. OKC had four other players in double-digits. They shot 54.9% from the field in the game and 50% from three.
Atlanta travels to Indiana on Friday night for a matchup with Tyrese Haliburton and the Pacers. Tip-off for that game is set for 7:00 p.m.
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