Atlanta Hawks swept by Brooklyn Nets after offense implodes in second half

Atlanta Hawks swept by Brooklyn Nets after offense implodes in second half

On today’s show the Hawks get swept in a two game series in Brooklyn with the offense falling off a cliff in the second half on this Saturday afternoon we’ll get into all of what transpired and much more and all that is coming up you are locked on Hawks your daily

Atlanta Hawks podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every Day Hello friends welcome to episode 1665 of the LT on Hawks podcast I am your host Brad Roland coming to you on a Saturday afternoon SL evening here in early March and today’s podcast is brought to you by the folks at FanDuel Sportsbook right now if you’re a new customer get $150 in

Bonus Bets with any winning $5 bet at FanDuel the place to go is fanduel.com lockon to get started also want to encourage you at the top of the podcast to make us your first listen each every day and check us out and subscribe to the podcast anywhere you get your

Podcasts check out Lon Hawks on Apple podcasts and Spotify and overcast and pocketcast we’re also on YouTube on the video side and please check out the folks at loton sports Atlanta for the postcast on this same channel for your audio only listeners and they’re also on their own YouTube channel and today’s

Podcast we’ll focus on what became a pretty rough loss for the Hawks on the road up in Brooklyn 114 to 102 at the hands of the Nets this is a rematch of course of the game on Tuesday which L lost by 27 points and was a really bad

Performance on Thursday and as I sort of laid out on the podcast on Thursday even before the podcast on Thursday this two game series in Brooklyn was pretty impactful in the standings if you care about the playing race and I know a lot a lot of fans do care about that

Essentially the stakes for today’s game alone was that if the Hawks won this game they’ have been up four games against Brooklyn with 22 to play that’s a pretty massive advantage and they would have tied the season in the season series and instead they lose and now

They’re only up by two games on Brooklyn and the Nets have a season series so if the Hawks and Nets were to tie the advantage goes to Brooklyn so all that said they’re basically only up by one game now on Brooklyn and that is not where they wanted to be heading into

This two game series also this was the earliest game as far as like on the clock this season is a three o’clock start up in Brooklyn lots to get to in this one the Hawks LED this game by as many as 13 points in the first half of

This game it kind of flatted out a little bit before halftime still up by two at the break and then the offense just fell off a cliff after halftime they scored 18 points in the third quarter and then 22 in the fourth and uh that was even probably a little bit

Charitable so as we always do on the podcast we kind of Go Big Picture first and then we’ll dive in sort of the nuts and bolts in the middle of the podcast at the end of the show what we do is go by uh sort of play player by player and

Break down how everybody uh sort of fared on the floor in this game for the Hawks but first we have to start with the offense and it was basically kind of a tail of two halves the Hawks have been at the very least inconsistent recently on the offensive end of the floor and

That was personified in this game they end up with a 107 offensive rating in this one 102 points those are not good numbers against a pretty shaky Nets defense not terrible but not good either in the first half it was actually quite strong they scored more than 1.2 points

Per possession in the first half and I even noted this during the game that it was probably about as good as you could reasonably ask for with their current Personnel before halftime and then of course the second half was absolutely dire on offense they had an 85 offensive rating in the second half

Of this game uh in a game that was again pretty pivotal as far as big picture you could argue I’m not necessarily saying this for sure you could argue this is the biggest game of the season as far as the uh the play in race is concerned at

This late date all that stuff and the second half of this game was really woeful they scored 40 points after halftime and honestly eight of those points out of the 40 came in the final two and a half minutes or so and it was total garbage Time by then so

Essentially it was even worse than the 40 points would have it indicate here’s a crazy number for you they had five assists and nine turnovers after halftime they shot 3 41% from the field and 8% from three in the second half of this game uh and kind of you know all

The all things put together they actually shot the ball very poorly on the hole 43% from the field and 32% from three in the game they had zero fast break points it’s actually hard to do that and uh it wasn’t because they just you know were umpty all these possession

They didn’t run very much and when they did it was very ineffective um and really with this Personnel they have right now without Trey and without aong wo they kind of need to run in order to score more efficiently and that was not the case in this game they also missed

Six free throws they weren’t terrible at the line but they weren’t good either their one offensive area where they actually ended up being pretty good on the hole was the offensive glass in this game they had 15c chance points it’s actually about you know above average

Like top five in the league kind of number but look it was really unsightly in the second half it wasn’t just that the Hawks were bricking open shots there were some of that like in the NBA if you score 40 points in a half and you have

An 85 85 offensive rating part of that is going to be that you just miss some open shots that definitely happened if you go play byplay in second half watch the film back there were some Miss opportunities um some makeable shots around the rim makeable shots from three

They didn’t make still though the process was really not good the shot quality was not good in second half of this game and really in the first half after watching it again post game you know it was better than first half process wise for sure but if anything

They were probably shooting above their heads a little bit in the first half of this game and uh things definitely regressed in a hurry after halftime so um also while we’re here I talked about this a lot on the on the podcast that was most recently posted on this feed on

Thursday evening into Friday the Hawks had a 104 offensive rating in the game on Thursday as well and just to put it plainly the Nets are blow average defensively so it’s not like they were playing some Gauntlet team like they weren’t facing the wolves in these two

Games and they had a day in between with with no travel to prepare and in the first half they had some wrinkles I think this is a reasonably well coached game they you know they had some issues in the second half for sure but they had

A game plan that was working um it’s that you know it’s just not a good offensive team I don’t I don’t mean to be reductive and if you listen to the podcast regularly you will know this but if you don’t I I aim to be levelheaded

And I’m not a too high or too low too low person I like to provide the nuance and the context and kind of not react sharply to small sample size especially one game two game samples and I’m not doing that here but um since try young went down that’s four games the Hawks

Have about a 110 offensive rating in those four games that would be a bottom five Mark in the League this season um coming into that stretch the Hawks had 11 17.6 offensive rating for the season that included some games without Trey but all that stuff that’s their total

Offensive rating before Trey went down they have not gotten to that number even once in four games they’ve been below that number in all four individual games and look it’s not going to be as bad as it was in the second half of this game on a regular basis it was was really

Awful in the second half of this game no team is as bad as this as as far as bad as that sample size was on offense but at the same time it’s not going to be as good as the first half was tonight or sorry this afternoon very much either

With this current personnel and really I don’t mean to be taky and I’m not trying to be but the current version of the Hawks without Trey without Ana who also is a big key this is not just Trey Ana is their best offensive Center that definitely unlocks a lot of different

Stuff for them so without those two guys really is no reason both logically um watching them all season long watching them the last four games the numbers all that put together there’s no really reason to believe they’re going to be a good offensive team with their current

Personnel better than this maybe but not good not top not top half Not Top 10 not top five where they’ve been at times this season so they have to make up that make up with that on defense and in the first two games that they won without

Trey it were as I said on the podcast those nights it was very obviously led by the defense and yes unsustainable shooting from opponents Etc but the defense should be better without Trey now without Ona being out actually hurts defense but in theory their current personnel which you know more

Kobe buffkin less obviously no Trey they should be a little bit better defensively um but in this game they weren’t great defensively and I am extremely skeptical to the point where I’m very confident it’s not the case that they’ll be able to make up the offensive drop with the defensive

Improvement and that’s been the case the last two games so there we are but anyway as far as this game’s concerned offensively in the second half it was about as rough as it possibly gets 40 points was charitable they were really kind of on the way to like 36 or

Something before the absolute garbage time kicked in and uh it was pretty pretty rough let’s just say uh quickly defensively in this one I said that for last on this first segment because it wasn’t awful the Nets did shoot the ball very well from three they were 47% from

Three in this game they only made 15 threes I think it was a little bit overstated on Thursday the Nets won the game because they made all their threes that was the number that was the number one reason I said that on the show postgame they made 22 threes on Thursday

That was a barrage today they made made a bunch of shots but they averaged 14 threes a game and they made 15 threes so it wasn’t like it was a crazy number of volume now the second quarter as we’ll talk about later on the podcast was wild

They were eight for eight from 3 second quarter and that certainly helped to swing this game in Brooklyn’s favor but I’ll just note that even after that the Hawks were winning at halftime so it was like they won the game in that stretch uh the Hawks did hold them under 50%

From two-point range in this game that’s been a theme I talked about last three days basically is that Brooklyn is not good inside the arc so the Hawks had to not let them beat them from three and in both games they kind of let them beat

Them from three in some ways um they didn’t force turnovers either only 11 giveaways for Brooklyn in this game against 28 assists and the other big thing is that mckel Bridges who is a really good player I don’t believe is the number one option on a good team but

He’s been killing the Hawks all year long he’s had one shaky game against Atlanta that was Thursday’s game actually but coming into the night he averaged 31 points a game in the first three games against the Hawks and today he had 38 points on 28 possessions the

Hawks couldn’t keep him out of the middle the entire game it was uh they didn’t really seem to bother him whatsoever in this game I mean hunter was ineffective on him as was Bay Johnson had a couple of better reps but nothing fantastic there either um they

Had no answer for Mel rers in this game on Thursday it was cam Johnson who was also pretty good in this one but tonight it was sorry I keep saying tonight this afternoon it was Mel Bridges and U you know all things considered though the whole star lineup for Brooklyn was plus

Seven or better uh and they were just kind of equal opportunity able to kind of beat up on the awks defense so um some regression on defense the last couple games after the super hot start post tray and then offensively you know it’s been a tale of hals and quars of

Times they’ve had a few good quarters few good Hales on offense in the last four games but not enough on the hole just by the way just as a reminder as I I don’t think I said it earlier the Hawks were actually um small underdogs

To even favorites at times um in the BET Market in this game so they were one and a half Point underdogs according to our friends at FanDuel on Thursday today it kind of kept going back and forth they were onepoint favorites they were one point underdogs essentially a Quin Flip

Game and to lose both of these games like I’ll own it like I said on the show before Thursday’s game like the most common most projectable average statistical result would have been in one and one against the Nets in these two games I would have thought that 0

And2 was the least likely scenario to be honest with you but that’s what happened and uh the hwks have to live with that and sort of deal with the consequences of kind of not necessarily blowing the lead but they’re now not in a dead heat

But close to it with with the Nets with 22 games remaining all right we’ll have more on this game obviously coming up in a second with regard to how it unfolded nuts and bolt style first quarter second quarter Etc and at the end of the podcast we’ll talk about the players how

They all performed in spoiler alert it was not great for most guys in this game but first it wor from our partners on today’s podcast Today’s Show is brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook and you can get Buckets right now with your first bet at FanDuel America’s number one Sportsbook

At the moment if you’re a new customer get 150 in bonus bets any winning $5 bets at FanDuel that’s 150 bucks in your pocket if your bet wins bet all of your favorite NBA players and teams with quick bets live same game parlays exclusive props and much more and the

Fal Sportsbook app is also really easy to use they have everything you’re looking for across the sports betting space over runds money lines player preps future bets and much more and the app is safe it’s secure and they cover the whole range of sports as well and of

Course includes the NBA and college basketball they have the NFL when it’s in season college football MLB golf tennis soccer auto racing boxing MMA and much more and they also have all the Hawks angles that you’re looking for including a full state of off each and every game plus Futures and much more

And now is an awesome time set up with the folks at FanDuel Sportsbook and the place to go is fanduel.com lockon one more time that’s fanduel.com lockon and shoot your shot at FanDuel official Sports partner of the NBA all right we’ll dive in now to how

This one unfolded and in contrast to the game on Thursday where the Hawks had an awful start they were down 18 to4 out of the outset on Thursday tonight they were actually up 16 to7 against the Nets coming out of the gate 7-2 early on forc early timeout um they they scored on

Four four possessions in a row um I thought Murray was really good at the outset of this game um capella missed a hook early on and a shot that he usually needs to make but he did he did actually what he doesn’t do often enough for anyone’s liking including my own is that

He had a couple nice kickout passes offensive rebounds in this game that was nice to see from him also drw also drew his 12 charge to charge of the Year capella is number nine in the NBA and charge is drawn despite missing time and not playing that many minutes compared

To a lot of guys so that’s a strength of his um I thought there were two bad challenges in this game both by both in the first half by each team Kevin olly of the Nets had a terrible one I thought like didn’t make any sense at all a nice

Gift for the Hawks then Quinn had one that was kind of a no hoper as well later on uh rotationally it was pretty much exactly the same as it’s been since Trey went down it was um Hunter as the sixthman clearly and then some comination of Garrison Matthews Bruno as

The backup center and then Kobe buffkin in the backup point guard role um the only guys who were act sorry the only guy who was active didn’t play at all was West Matthews Trent Forest played two minutes of garbage time but essentially it was kind of what it’s

Been as far as rotation is concerned buffkin played a couple minutes with with the jante I believe maybe one in this game not much more than that and uh a little bit of small ball but kind of similar to what it’s been VW by as many as 13 points in the first quarter

Brooklyn did score um the fin six points of the first quarter to cut the lead down to seven the Hawks didn’t score for about two minutes and that was kind of a precursor of what was to come still a good quarter though um marray six assists four threes combined for Bogi

And Hunter at the outset and the Nets were really cold shooting wise um they made Seven threes in the first quarter on Thursday tonight they made Seven field goals in the first quarter but from that point forward the Hawks didn’t really get stops like I didn’t pull the

Numbers but if you remove the first quarter from the defensive numbers the last three were pretty rough on that end of the floor um I thought buffkin had a couple nice flashes in the first half a good drive to draw a foul in The First beginning of part of the second quarter

I should say had a good read and a good passing delivery on a on a feed to sadique Bay for a dunk um but the office did sputter a little bit Bay had his best R of the night in the middle of the second quarter he actually scored 10

Straight points um for the Hawks at one stage in this one but the Nets had a nice run mid quarter they played Jay on a little bit of Center in the first half it was more often in the second half um because I think Capella’s pretty good in

The first half but the Hawks are only up by two at the break which I thought was a missed opportunity um they should have been up by more than that with how they played on offense they had five guys with nine points or more in the first

Half Murray had 10 assists that actually tied his career high for assists in a half um spoiler alert he only had 11 in the game so you could tell the second half was not quite the same there um but I even had this in my notes now it was

Tough for the Hawks to only be up by two because it was a really really good offensive half it wasn’t like insane but given the available roster like to play that way offense in a half and be only up by two I would say was probably the

Best or second best half of offense since Trey went down there was one half against Utah that was similar as far as the effectiveness was concerned earned but uh that obviously gave way and Brooklyn in the first half here’s a crazy stat for you the Nets shot 55%

From three in the first half and 38% from two in the first half those numbers came closer together by the end of the game but uh it was it was truly a three-point only attack for Brooklyn before halftime um the game started a swing ahead away from the Hawks in the

Third quarter a 15 to4 run by Brooklyn to open the third quarter but the Hawks down by nine after they’ve been up by 13 in the first first half um the offense came to an absolute screeching halt in the second half which I sort of alluded to multiple times but just some more

Numbers here they opened one of 11 from the floor in the second half they had two points at about four and a half five minutes uh there was a big shot by Deonte it feel like it was going to be sort of a stabilizing Factor H had a big

Three to get them sort of back in touch and then immediately they allowed a four-point play to cam Johnson so they were down by 10 again they were kind of in that range the whole rest of the way in the third quarter jayen had a brutal

Turnover that led to a runout layup by Mel Bridges and they were down by 10 at the end of the third quarter so again up 13 early up seven in the first quarter up two at halftime and then down by down by 10 at the end of the third they were

Six of 24 from the field including two of 11 from Murray and bogy in the third and they had 18 points wolf uh in the fourth at the outset I thought both offenses were really bad in the fourth quarter in fact they scored combined the Hawks and the Nets four points at about

Three and a half four minutes turnovers Miss shots like just really kind of ugly basket I will say the bench unit for the Hawks which was in the game at that point in time with Kobe and Bruno Etc they played pretty aggressive and competent defense in that stretch but the offense just was

Not enough to kind of make to sort of take take advantage of that here’s a money stat for you I mentioned how bad the offense was in the whole second half but here’s where it actually was off the rails they scored 21 points in the first

16 and a half minutes of the second half so that is about a quarter almost a quarter and a half 21 points there were seven of 31 won from the field with six turnovers in that stretch and uh that’s where they lost the game I mean it’s

Obviously it’s pretty clear to see in on the stat sheet if you watch this game this kind of was obvious but the offense essentially was bottom of the barrel for a quarter and a half and that’s why they lost there you go uh the game was still

Though in doubt the Hawks were within 10ish mid fourth quarter and then the Nets had a 70 run to essentially end the game the Hawks had the Hawks actually went small to their offensive lineup I mean the one time the one lineup that I’ve argued I still would argue that is

Their best offensive group right now with without Trey is Deonte bogy Hunter Bay and Johnson at the five they did that you know Quinn seems to like as most coaches do to be honest with you to go small when you’re losing in the fourth quarter because it’s kind of

Higher variance your offense can kind of come back he did that down down 10 they went to jayen earlier at the center than they had in in the first half but as soon as they did that they actually had three empty trips in a row bogie had two

Turnovers bur bogie was awful in this game by the way um and then Deon got a technical foul during this as well so ended up being an 80 run by the Nets to go from the Hawks down 10 to the Hawks down 18 obviously they were scuffling the technical foul

All that stuff and then by the time that actually was happening they’re down 18 with four minutes to go and the game is just over like it was essentially just in the blck of an eye it was already going to be an uphill battle down 10ish

With six to seven minutes to go but it was they were in the game and then very quickly they were not in the game anymore and then within a minute after that they kind of they give it one more push did Quinn with the rotation and

Then as soon as that was over it was the White Flag it was Trent forest and it was the bench unit and uh all she wrote so the awks again had 32 points with like two minutes left sorry in the second half with two minutes left in the

Fourth quarter so I don’t want I don’t want to repeat myself too much but it really was um The Perfect Storm of bad process and bad results um first half better process and really good results with some shot making especially by you know guys like Murray and Bay who were

Kind of hot Hunter made some threes in the first half second half essentially no one shot the ball well and uh the process also kind of took nose dive so we’ll leave it there for now we’ll talk about the players and stuff in a second it’ll allow me to get a little bit

Deeper on some of the more troubling Trends but they’re playing slower without Trey they’re not creating threes without Trey the uh the number of three-pointers per game is way down like eight or nine per game lower corner threes as I mentioned a lot on Thursday are way down and they you know obviously

Trey is one of the best passers in the world but even beyond that they’re just not playing as quick which they could still do um clearly there’s an impact there without their best player but they still could be playing more often with their current groups playing faster creating more threes breaking the paint

That’s something Quinn emphasized a lot on Thursday I think again today post game is that they have to be able to get into the lane to create the rotations and then kick out all that stuff it’s just not happening on tape like it’s it’s an unsightly brand of offense and

We’ll leave it there for now but I uh have plenty of thoughts on that topic but we’ll hold them for later all right we’ll have more on this game coming up on the player side but first it wor from our partners on the podcast Today’s Show is brought to to

You by priz pick and they have demons and goblins and they are the newest most exciting ways to play at priz pick and there are squares marked with Red Demons or Green Goblins they give you different payouts at at prize picks and also you can always 100 times the money on your

Entries which is a little as four correct picks you have $10 you can turn that into $1,000 at price piix if you want to play alongside some price favorite players like rord meet Mill it can be Andrew Schultz as well find them under Community Place under the promos

Tab of the app to view entries from some of the biggest names in the price piix Community each and every week they have injury insurance as well at Price piix you can entri can stay and play even if one of your players happens to get injured it’s really simple to play there

I can make my picks and subit an entry in just 60 seconds or less they have quick withdrawals easy gameplay enormous selection of players and Stat types that’s what makes price pi the number one daily fantasy sports app I’ve been playing there for quite some time now

Months and months and month I’m really enjoying diving in to all the numbers each and every day at prize pick and the place to go is prize.com lnba and use code lock NBA when you get there for a first time deposit match up to $100 one more time that is prize

Picks.com loock on NBA and use code locked on NBA when you get there pick more pick less it’s that easy with prize picks all right and to the player-by-player breakdowns at the end of the show here not a lot of Great Performances as you might expect in a

Double digit Road loss to a middling basketball team in the Nets uh I thought buffkin was pretty okay offensively he’s not been like dominant he had had three points on five shots did have three assists two turnovers couple nice flashes a couple of really good as I thought he’s he’s operating the ball

Well um it’s still clear that like he’s a rookie point guard I think that defensively he has been largely as good as advertised um as far as like I think there’s been a little bit of a reaction like like how good he is now but he’s obviously very good compared to what the

Hawks have been having at that spot but offensively it’s a reminder that like he was drafted as a combo guard in some ways he’s been playing point guard in College Park he’s operating fine but he isn’t like super Dynamic right now which is by the way not a crism I like Kobe a

Lot I think there’s upside on that in the floor it’s just that it takes time he’s 20 years old and I’ll don’t overreact to that end of the floor uh Garrison Matthews has been a little bit shaky recently didn’t score in this game only took one shot I said this before

Garrison’s got to shoot more if he’s going to play 13 minutes 13 minutes one shot for Garrison Matthews he does little things he does he gets he gets in the way he tries to draw charges he’s kind of an irritant defensively but in the end his primary value on on on the

Offensive end is his shooting where he is a really good shooter but one shot attempt in 13 minutes it’s not gonna be enough for him to return a ton of value I I wouldn’t think um Bruno was okay in this game 10 points more rebounds and

Three blocks I thought he gave them good energy um still makes some mistakes that’s something it’s kind of one of the Hallmarks of Bruno is that um he does give you a lot with the way he just plays with physicality and burst as a backup center but he he’s a little bit

Overeager at times but still I thought he was um on the higher end of the way that guys played in this game according to their baselines Bruno if anything was average or better um and that’s that was obviously all they needed from him Hunter had a weird night he hit he hit

Four threes he was the only guy on the team that shot the ball like what I would describe as well from three-point range in this game but only one of five on twos missed a free throw 15 points um two rebounds two turnovers defensively he was not very impactful against

Bridges at all in this game so like they needed the shooting and when they were rolling in the first half offensively part of that was that Hunter was making some shots but it was not his best effort I think he was I think he’s been better recently than he was in this game

Um to the starters in this one uh Jaylen Johnson had a weirdly quiet and not particularly good basketball game he had seven points on 12 shots he was 0 of four from three three of eight from two one two at the three line did have nine did have nine rebounds only one assist

Uh Jaylen has been clearly impacted with the role that they’re having him play I would like to have him play a little bit more on the ball right now but like the setups are not quite as easy for anybody it’s not just a jayen thing but they’re

Not using him the way that I’d like to see him used right now and it’s tough because everybody’s kind of cramped with their current rotations and all that stuff but he played 35 minutes like he played his normal workload just didn’t have a huge impact on offense in this

Game and I think that’s partly the way he played and partly the way that he has been used in the recent uh spell of games um bogy was awful I got to say 13 points yes um but on 13 shot attempts he was one of five on twos four turnovers

Including two or three that were just awful passes minus 15 defensively not very good I’m a huge bogey Advocate I think he’s really good generally speaking this was one of his worst games of the year he’s had some shooting games that were similar to this even Thursday

He didn’t shoot the ball very well but he didn’t play well at all in this game like the decision making was not good he and Deon are not partnering super well together right now in the back court it’s kind of like your turn my turn

Stuff boie was a little bit too I don’t want to use the word selfish but like certainly too shot happy like I like when bogie is shot happy but I want him to be hunting better shots like he was more like on ball shot happy in this

Game which I want him to be coming off screens all that stuff so uh he’ll had better nights for sure but he was not good one one interesting note actually on bogy uh because he’s not shooting the ball right now that’s very well is that he’s apparently bad a right thumb issue

Of some kind that’s of course his shooting hand that’s important uh not list on the injury report but it was referenced on the broadcast a few times by Bob rman who travels with the team I’m sure he knows also Lauren Williams of the AJC and jam Johnson who were in

Brooklyn for the game noted this as well so apparently it’s like known to some level that Bogi has been dealing with something on his right hand SL right thumb but you know how bad that is we’ll see but he’s not been shooting the ball well recently just want to note that

Because it was out there um during the game today uh capella was okay 11 points 10 rebounds um still didn’t like he’s not looking like quite his full fledged self right now but I thought he gave them some good production on the whole um still like he’s not moving in Space

The same way he has in the past even this year especially not two or three years ago but even earlier this year when he’s a little bit healthier but I thought he gave them okay production he only you know four of seven from the floor is fine for him uh missed one free

Throw out of four that’s fine for him as well 10 rebounds in 24 minutes like he did his job he wasn’t awesome but he was not the problem I didn’t think in in this game uh sadique bay had the one stretch in the first half which is

Really good with 10 straight points at 23 points he was one of the only offensive players in this game that actually had anything going um not like his absolute best work but he was one of their better guys for sure um you know not super efficient but still shot the

Ball better in this game than he did on Thursday and gave them pretty good production and then Deon Murray had a weird game so first congrats to Dante who clenched himself an extra half million dollars by reaching his uh performance incentive for three-pointers made in a season it was actually a quote

Unquote likely Inc because he got he actually got there last year as well but it’s still 500 Grand in your pocket nothing to sneeze that there for Deon so congrats to him on that I mentioned before he had the 10 assists in the first half 11 in the

Game um he was not efficient as a as a scorer either he was 20 points on 21 shooting possessions so below average efficiency there had some nice passes in the first half he did um he played with very very little physicality and force after about the first quarter and a half

In this game he had some nice finishes late in the game as well but like not his best work not anybody’s best work maybe you could say sadique and Bruno was pretty good but like no one played well in this game like Murray had a big

Had a double double yes but um the passing was good in the first half for him second half he was part of the same problem everybody else had he just they were bad on offense he didn’t have the same juice and uh we’ll leave it there

For now but uh truly not the most encouraging performance in the world from this Hawks team and unfortunately it gets a little bit more difficult on the offensive end of the floor schedule wise coming up now with the NBA every game is separate and uh you can have a

Good game against a bad team or good game against a good team Etc but the next four games the Hawks play good defenses in all four of them they play at the Knicks good defense on Tuesday they play the Cavs on a back toback the Cavs are really good defensively they

Play at Memphis next Friday Memphis is good as well as much as they’re not very good overall it’s because their offense is not good they’re good defensively and then New Orleans a week from tomorrow on Sunday so the next four teams I think are all in the top 10 defensively could

Be a little bit of a challenge or on the bright side if you want to be an optimist maybe they score well against these teams and you kind of sage some of that doubt that they currently have on offense um defensively I will say it’s a little bit easier on some respects the

Knicks are pretty good on offense this year but the Cavs you know hit and miss Memphis is bad on offense so we’ll see but the schedule certainly doesn’t get any easier because you know these these first four games without Trey um and really the first five games post

All-Star break have all been favorable is games like they had three games in a row at home to begin the second half of the season in which they were favored in all three they only won two of them but they were favored in all three and these

Two games in Brooklyn yes they’re on the road but they’re against a not very good team and they were like coin flips in those games they’re going to be a real Underdog on Tuesday in New York doesn’t mean they can’t win but they will be uh Cleveland on the back toback probably

Underdogs there too at Memphis TBD New Orleans probably underdogs there without Trey so the schedule is getting more difficult we will see and then by the way after that they have a the long road trip to the West Coast so hold on tight for that um I mentioned a second ago but

They do play they have this bizarre six game stretch I’ve asked ground again people around the team I can’t find anybody that believes this is like not the longest they’ve ever had um I’m not qualified to do a full a full search on this but I think this is the longest

They’ve ever been in a single City non playoffs since I’ve been covering the team besides Atlanta it’s crazy but they’re still in New York and they don’t play again until Tuesday so they should have at least one full practice maybe even two maybe two practices between now

And then but it’s Tuesday at the Knicks that at one point was supposed to be a national TV game it’s no longer a national TV game but br’s going to have that game so that’ll be available for you to watch and a nice little test there for Atlanta to say the least um

The Knicks are not super healthy right now and they’re not playing incredibly well and they’re also coming back they actually play on Sunday on the road so the Hawks actually will have as crazy as it is they might actually have the situational Advantage despite the fact

That they’ve been on the road this whole time the Knicks though I’m looking at it now as I’m recording the podcast they’re only three and eight in their last 11 so they’re banged up right now so not their best bet but they are pretty good this

Year they’re like you know top four five in the East and interesting challenge so anyway I’ll have a podcast probably between now and then that’s the plan anyway so knock on wood for that but uh I’ll just say this you can please subscribe to the podcast anywhere you

Get your podcast places like apple and Spotify as well as YouTube on the video side if you missed it I mentioned this earli in the podcast but if you are an audio only subscriber you will also see the postcast on a regular basis from the folks at locked on Sports Atlanta they

Have their own YouTube channel but they also share my audio feed at lockon Hawks so um just some extra bonus content nothing less for me I’m still doing five six weeks sorry five six shows per week on on my own but then you throw in a

Little bit of extra content if you enjoy that so check check that podcast out anywhere you get your podcast as well and uh yeah ratings reviews appreciated follow the show on Twitter SLX Lon Hawks follow me there as well at BTR Rolland follow my written work around the Hawks at

Patreon.com BTR Rolland hopefully if you are a Hawks fan there’ll be a little bit better Vibes coming out of these two games and uh there is room for the debate I probably will have it at some point with someone on the podcast about like

I I know and trust me every time I talk about the Hawks competing for the playin right now I get the who cares responses I don’t blame me for that there’s one Camp that’s like all right give me to the lottery and there’s one Camp it’s

Like all right give me to the playoffs I’m not telling you how to feel there are they’re kind of in this in between zone so I’m going to cover both angles in the next couple of weeks and months but right now they are still the 10 seed

They’re in the play in if the season ends today and I bet you even after this loss the projection models will have the Hawks as the favorite to make the play in now it’s harder with it’s hard without Trey the Nets though are not particularly awesome even though they

Just beat the Hawks twice in a row so hold on tight we’ll have full coverage each and every day on this podcast check it out subscribe to the show and we’ll see you all next time

Brad Rowland (@BTRowland, DIME on UPROXX) hosts episode No. 1665 of the Locked on Hawks podcast. The show breaks down Saturday’s game between the Atlanta Hawks and the Brooklyn Nets, including an early 13-point lead, an offensive collapse in the second half, Bogdan Bogdanovic’s struggles, Brooklyn’s 3-point shooting, and much more.

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOHawks?sid=YouTube

Locked On NBA League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft, WNBA & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNBA

#AtlantaHawks #NBA #TraeYoung

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!’

Stitch Fix

Style that makes you feel as good as you look—get started today at StitchFix.com/LOCKEDON

Nissan

Our friends at Nissan have a lineup of SUV’s with the capabilities to take your adventure to the next level. Take the Nissan Rogue, Nissan Pathfinder, or Nissan Armada and go find your next big adventure. Shop NissanUSA.com.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNBA. Terms and conditions apply.

eBay Motors

For parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotors.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.

BetterHelp

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDONNBA today to get 10% off your first month.

PrizePicks

Go to PrizePicks.com/lockedonnba and use code lockedonnba for a first deposit match up to $100!

Gametime

Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.

FanDuel

Make Every Moment More. Right now, NEW customers get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your best bet of FIVE DOLLARS or more wins. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)