Atlanta Hawks topple Orlando Magic to snap losing streak in first game following Trae Young injury

Atlanta Hawks topple Orlando Magic to snap losing streak in first game following Trae Young injury

On today’s show the Hawks have snapped their three-game losing streak with a very nice home win over the aleno magic on this Sunday evening we’ll get into all of what transpired in the game how they operate without Trey young in the future and much more and all that is coming up right

Now 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 1661 of the loton Hawks podcast I your host Brad Roland coming to you on a Sunday evening into Monday here in late February and Today’s Show is brought to you by the folks at FanDuel Sportsbook and right now if you are a new customer get 150 in

Bonus bets any winning $5 bet the place to go is fanduel.com lockon to get started also at top of the podcast I should encourage you to make us your first listen each and every day check out the podcast anywhere you get your podcast places like apple Spotify Amazon

Music overcast also we are on YouTube on the video side and if you’re listening to this podcast on Monday on the audio platforms this will no longer be a problem for you but over the weekend we had some hosting changes at the at the network level so uh YouTube has been the

Flagship for us the last few days and thank you for listening and watching us on that platform as well and uh certainly encourage you to check out the audio side and the video side for maximum support of the podcast one more plug at the top of the show I also did a

Emergency podcast earlier tonight on Sunday before tip off about the news that Trey young is going to be out for at least four weeks and maybe longer with uh finger surgery that’s going to be happening later this week I will not do a ton on that topic on this show but

I certainly encourage you to listen to that it’s about 22 minutes long or so that I dropped on Sunday exclusively about that topic I’m obviously be interwoven in the future coverage as well as maybe this podcast a little bit as well but for actual detail on that there’s a standalone episode that is

Available in your feeds right now on that but anyway the Hawks played after that on Sunday evening and picked up a very nice home win 109 to 92 at the uh hands of the orlandoo magic a very solid across theboard performance with the Hawks it was not always easy for Atlanta

Um this is actually the fourth game against Orlando fourth and final game I should say of the year the first three games were all very close and in this game it was shipping up to be that way and then the Hawks had a massive third quarter which they doubled the magic up

38 to 19 in the third period that was the difference in the game they were down by six at halftime and from there it was a rocket ship that ni close to that quarter Murray was great in that quarter as was Jaylen Johnson and the Hawks were able to kind of hold serve

Down the stretch it got a little dicey with like four minutes to go but it was not quite in doubt in the final minutes for the Hawks to kind of hang on and get the victory now obviously uh you know it’s a little bit of a perfect storm in

Some respects coming off of the Trey young injury the fact that he didn’t play in this game they had a good defensive game all that stuff so the takes are out there um I would recommend Nuance always as I will try to provide that on this podcast as always but

Here’s part of it the Hawks were actually favored in this game now I got several questions about this before tip off about how in the world the Hawks could be favored in this game given how they have been playing recently they’ve lost three games in a row and also

Without Trey without Kong Wu Etc but they were favored by our folks at FanDuel had them as a two-point favorite in this game crucially Orlando had an impossible turnaround they had a back-to-back they played 8:00 start in Detroit on Saturday and then had a 7:00 early start on Sunday it’s about as

Narrow and as rough of a back toback as the NBA will allow scheduling wise um and then you throw in the fact that orlena also did not did not have pal banero in this game their best and most visible player they’re Allstar Etc so obviously it was a little bit more even

Than you might think for a team that has a better record than the Hawks but had a tough schedule spot and again was without their best player in addition to Trey being out so all that said it was like the Hawks were huge favorites but

Um the kind of some of the surprise if you’re more of a casual Observer you might might be kind of surprised that the Hawks were a favored and that they won this game without Trey but when you realize that like all the parts coming in to play here it wasn’t a terribly

Shocking result especially if you watch this one in Orlando’s offense in particular now all that said what I do at the top of the podcast here is usually go over that kind of the broad strokes and then later on in the podcast we’ll kind of dig into the you know meat

And potatoes throughout the game and then at the end we’ll talk about all the players who appeared for the Hawks in this game and I have to start with the defense because they allowed 90 two points that is the fewest of the Season Allowed by the Hawks um a very very slow

Paced game which was part of that but they still had like like a 97 is defensive rating in the game that’s also very good of course in any context I have to be the bad guy a little bit and give you the context and the Nuance that

Orlando is not good offensively they are a bottom seven or eight team in the league on offense this year and even worse when you remove Paulo Monero but even when you adjust for that so I’m putting that out there but certainly it still matters the Hawks were good

Defensively in this game they were it helped that the Hawks played played small just less in this game than they did on Friday in particular like they played a lot of Jo Joe Johnson at Center on Friday um I talked about that on that postgame episode where the Hawks just

Could not get stops playing that small ball unit now they were better on offense with that unit and that happened also again in this game but they’re just generally bigger they also got Kobe buffkin in this game which was nice to see and he helps them defensively given

His current state compared to their other perimeter guys on this roster they also just played bigger in general normally they are playing a ton and obviously you know this makes sense they’re playing a lot of TR and deante together 24ish minutes a night something like that on average and that’s a very

Small group now we all know that but in general one of the issues this year with the Hawks is they’ve been very small on the whole and quar talked about it a lot this year um I don’t think he loves how the roster was built in that respect but

Anytime they’re missing any of their forwards or any of their bigs they’re very small and right now yes they’re missing their you know arguably their best center at this point but certainly one of their best centers in a Kong Wu but his size is one of his question

Marks and all their forwards the three forwards they actually have on their roster Hunter Bay and Johnson are all available so without Trey they’re just bigger in general and that definitely helped the defense a lot um I think they only played two or three minutes the entire game with two small guards and

That was with Murray and buffkin the rest of the game it was one small guard they played a center pretty much the whole game there was there was one stin with J Johnson playing Center um but it was mostly Bruno Fernando and a little bit of small ball sprinkled in and uh in

General they were just bigger and that would help them defensively now Orlando also you know actually shot the okay from three but the Hawks packed it in and I think wisely so Orlando is not a difficult team to defend in some ways because they don’t have a lot of

Perimeter shooting and they can maybe beat you with that we saw that a little bit actually in the previous match up when Caleb Houston went crazy for the magic against the Hawks but tonight they shot the ball okay 37% from three in the game but the magic also had 20 turnovers

That was a big factor in this one Orlando is very clearly one guard short offensively they have a lot of guys you know they they were missing Gary Harrison this game um they had Marquel folz back in this one but he played 12 minutes like they have Cole Anthony who

Was you you know he’s a scorer um Anthony uh Anthony black was rough as a starter in this game for Orlando anyway there wasn’t this is this is one thing that the Hawks didn’t do anything to really stop the magic also shot eight of 18 from the free throw line yes they

Missed 10 of their 18 free throws 44% and it wasn’t like that was one guy you know often in the NBA you’ll have like a you know one Center or like a Ben Simmons type that just misses a bunch of free throws this was everybody their team nobody nobody took more than five

Nobody missed more than two but they missed 10 free throws and that certainly if the game had been closer and it was close-ish with four minutes to go that could have been a factor had they made they made some shots but anyway fo only allowed 18 free throw attempts which is

Obviously quite good they they get credit and certainly should deserve credit for the turnover Creation in this game lots of deflections lots of steals they had 10 steals in this one um in on the way to the 20 turnovers in this game so defensively they just played pretty

Well like they did pack it in and the perimeter talent for Orlando is not very good but I thought it was a good game plan by the Hawks and it was executed well they benefited from buffkin I thought even bogy was better than usual defensively Garis Matthews was actually

Giving them good energy Off the Bench uh defensively Hunter was very good I thought in this one he was actually a game best plus 25 so uh it was a team effort in a lot of ways for Atlanta and a nice result on defense offensively it

Was not anything special in fact it was pretty much flat out bad for three of the four quarters but fortunately for the Hawks it’s a 48-minute game and the third quarter led by Deon and J Johnson was excellent so that led to a 13ish offensive rating in this game

Which is not good that’s below their average but when you get stops it doesn’t necessarily matter and they were lights out in that third quarter with 38 points so it was middling the first half was kind of the I would say the downside scenario of not having Trey young if you

Watch the first half of this game that is a perhaps a stark reminder of what the offense can look like at times without Trey they didn’t really have any Direction they would kind of lless offensively but they woke up from there from there part of that that Murray was

Much better in the second half as was Johnson and they are the two best players right now along with bonovich on offense um it’s those three guys and maybe a little bit of of Hunter Sprinkling in there as well but when Murray and Johnson are both playing well

They have a lot easier time and that definitely happened in that third quarter but the Hawks Al shot shot the ball well from the perimeter only 48% on twos that’s actually quite bad but Orlando is very good defensively that’s also context it’s key context to throw in there because Orlando is bad

Offensively but they’re actually good on defense so that’s a little bit part of the whole mixture here credit to them on defense the HW shot well from three 41% from three and 88% at the line so the two teams took about the same amount of free throws and the Hawks made Seven of

Seven more of them did than magic did so that definitely helps you on the margins the biggest number I might argue though was the 10 turnovers the Hawks had compared to 20 for Orlando that is 10 extra possessions very helpful there also 31 assists the ball moved fairly

Well after that sty first half but they had four guys with the least 17 points points uh bonovich Murray Johnson and Hunter and also Bay was fine with 12 points so like they had decent enough balance that’s going to be helpful and they also I thought it was key in this

Game offensively that the Hawks were able to push the tempo a little bit more in the second half um they had about 19% frequency in transition in this game per Queen in the glass that is well above where they normally are and without Trey not to beat the beat the point over the

Head too much they’re going to need to get easier stuff and generally speaking that means running a little bit more especially with J Johnson getting downhill Murray too um they’re they’re not going to be as effective in the half court without Trey that’s just the reality on offense so getting easier

Stuff pushing Tempo and uh that is much much uh help that’s much more helpful to the offensive EOS systm overall so yeah I thought the Hawks played well in the second half in the first half they’re down six like they didn’t play awfully on defense they played pretty well on

Defense the offense was not good before halftime but in the end the full mixture and that third quarter like the Hawks won the third quarter by by 19 points and they won the game by 17 points so the rest of the game it was pretty locked in even and maybe even favoring

Orlando but uh you know it all counts last thing before we move on to the rest of the podcast I can’t believe I have to do this but I feel like I should because I have so many questions and mentions and all that stuff right now simply put

The Hawks are not better without Trey young this is not a situation where we have to be silly about this at all I talked about this a little bit on the emergency podcast as well the Hawks still do have talent they don’t automatically lose every game because

They don’t have Troy Young they are worse without him that that’s not up for debate in my mind but they don’t they don’t become the Pistons either it’s pretty familiar in the NBA when you are missing your best player for a game or two guys play up it’s a very natural

Phenomenon it’s been studied before um it was the Hawks played will the second half of this game Honestly though they won a game they’re supposed to win that is certainly good context they were favored for a reason they did a good job not letting down from there so generally

Speaking it was a nice win and a reminder that again as I said another show as well the notion of the Hawks are like going to tank now is not really a thing like I said on that show I say again here I would be on board with the

Hawks prioritizing the future over the present that is something you can do while not tanking you can just play your young guys more and be considerate of that but they’re still going to try to win that was obviously the case here they they played to win this game the

Only thing that was like even approaching a future facing move that the Hawks made tonight was playing buffkin over Mills which probably should just happen anyway so anyway that’s where we are the Hawks are priortize the future but um they won a game tonight over team they are trying to chase into

The standings that’s obviously a good result they have home game on Tuesday we talk much much more about that but on a night when and really on a weekend on a last couple of weeks with the ungu injury and trade now going down just the vibe was really bad around the Hawks

Getting a win at home is good for everyone like guys want to win and the Hawks getting a win there helps just helps the vibe generally speaking so I’ll leave it there for now we’ll have more on this game coming up in a second but first at work from our sponsors on today’s

Podcast Today’s Show is brought to you by gramarly I hope this podcast by myself and that requires sending a ton of different emails and making a ton of notes in preparation for the podcast no matter what kind of work you do how you communicate is key in your workplace and

All of those emails or notes or reports are important to the collaboration that you actually need to have to get things done and grammarly can help with all of that grammarly is your AI writing partner it helps you communicate more effectively and efficiently in order to make the bigger impact you’re looking

For at your place of work when I communicate with different supervisor managers in sports rating space I’ve also used grammarly to help me work efficiently and confidently it saves time also helps with Clarity to get things done the way you want to and better writing makes a stronger impact

In your workplace 96% of people that use grammarly report the grammarly helps them craft more impactful writing and gly also works across 500,000 apps and websites and by understanding your writing in context they provide relevant personalized suggestions make a bigger impact at work with grammarly sign up

Right now and download for free at grammarly.com podcast that is g r mm l.com podcasts One More Time grammarly.com podcast all right we’ll dive in now to how this game unfolded and the Hawks did score the first five points of the game a nice start there jayen Johnson had a huge

Block in the first minute of this one I thought it was notable to me that Orlando had their defensive stopper Jaylen Suggs who’s one of the best players in the league at the point of attack honestly he’s usually the guy that guards Trey in this matchup he actually was defending Bogi which I

Thought was notable like they have had they have other options on De Jon they had Anthony black on him a little bit more size but um that’s just a reminder that like you know Deonte and Bogie’s also terrifying but I thought it was just interesting that they did that

Orlando one of seven from the floor begin this game but then they had a 10- two run capella was really shaky out of the gate we’ll talk about him more later on but he was not good in the first half in particular of this game out of sorts

And uh IM took the lead a little bit they went to Fernando pretty early it was Hunter and Fernando as the first guys coming off the bench then Garrison Matthews as the usual eighth man right now with the injuries they have Bruno by the way had a nice had a nice dunk over

Over Mo Wagner right when he came in basically um but then the the one point of drama on the rotation was whether or not they would give Kobe buffkin the backup point guard minutes because as I’ve mentioned before he has never still played backup point guard until tonight

This is the first time that’s ever happened the one time he was in the rotation a couple weeks ago he was playing alongside trer deante the entire time he’s basically playing Wing because they had so many injuries and illnesses and Patty was out and all that stuff

Tonight was the first time in the buffkin era that he played point guard and he looked fine he he played well defensively in particular with we’ll come back to that later on but I was encouraged by that that they did not I had this sinking feeling that they were

Going to go to Patty Mills and I was prepared for the online Meltdown by hawks fans it didn’t happen which was nice um the Hawks did stay manage to stay in the game but the off the first quarter was really really unsightly offensively like I’m I’m an appreciator

Of Defense obviously if you listen to this podcast regularly you would know that but it was 2219 and it was very clear to anyone watching closely that this was a battle of two teams that did not have their primary initiators Pao was not there they did not have a play

In Orlando and then the Hawks didn’t have Trey it was really stodgy the team had a point per possession they combined to shoot 33% from the field in the first quarter so it was really rough to watch it was better later on but it didn’t

Really wake up for the Hawks for a while they had 28 points in the first 18 minutes of this game that they ended up winning by 17 so that’s pretty crazy they were shooting 28% from the field at that point and then Quinn I think wisely

Went to the no Center lineup for the first time to kind of try to juice the offense because the one thing that that lineup does with Jay at Center is that it just gives you an offensive identity you don’t have anybody in the middle of the lanes I mean whether it it’s Bruno

Or capella somebody’s gonna be in the lane or even a conle out of a time um it’s it’s not as easy if you’re playing Five back a true five out like they do with Jaylen it’s just easier and in general that lineup of Murray boogi Hunter Bay and Johnson is probably their

Best offensive lineup that they could put on the court without Trey young you might be able to argue that Kong Wu if he’s available would would be part of that but because he’s not right now offense only that is their best five without Trey and that certainly allowed

Them to score a little bit and also at least have a prayer defensively like it’s not a good defensive lineup but at least if you’re playing Hunter Bay and Johnson you have some beef and physicality up front um anyway offensively that woke them up a little bit Hunter was really good in that

Stretch he had a couple shots in a row also had a nice defensive possession against um I think it was fron voder to force a shot clock violation and then Jaylen came alive so Jaylen was 0 of six to begin the game 0 of five in the first

Quarter and then he made three shots in a row um at one point um to kind of get the offense going a little bit and they were actually down one with two minutes to go in the first half ended up going down by six at halftime because the

Offense had a 92 offensive rating there were 10 of 26 in the paint in the first half and while the jokes are there about capella being responsible for some of that and he was I think he missed three or four shots in the paint they missed

16 shots in the paint as a team so it wasn’t just him it was everybody they couldn’t make shots in the lane and then that kind of changed in the second half it still wasn’t great and from two-point range the entire game but it was better after that um importantly bogy hit back

Toback threes coming out of the locker room to tie the game and then Jaylen was just much more assertive again he was part of the early problems he was much more aggressive pushing Tempo like I said before um and grabbing goes also in the half court they kind of tried to

Water and then Murray to his credit had an awesome end of the third quarter so he he scored 10 straight at one point for the Hawks including back-to-back threes ended up playing the whole quarter because he was kind of cooking and that was the right that was the

Right call he had 16 points in the third quarter that was his second highest score in quarter of the season um I’m sure fans will remember this but he had that famous 22 Point explosion against the Wolves back in October in a single quarter where he just went absolutely

Nuts in a win back when the Hawks were like three and two or four- two it was like okay the Hawks are be good um anyway that was a nice throwback to that when Murray was great not a stretch of that third quarter he was huge huge part

Of the process and the Hawks had an 18 to one run to end the third quarter Jaylen and Deon combined for 26 points against only 19 for the entire magic team that’s when the Hawks won this game it’s not like a huge breaking news kind of analysis there but that really is

What happened and it helped the Hawks made some jumpers finally they were 58 from three in the third quarter plus a couple of mid rers by Deon and the magic couldn’t make a shot and suddenly Haw up by 13 points they’re up 20 early in the fourth um buffin had a nice stretch

Defensively where he he took a charge on Mo Vagner then he actually that by the way that got the bench was very excited including Quinn on that play also we had a nice hit ahead pass to Jaylen for a layup and then he locked jayen THS down one-on-one defensively so good it’s good

To see Kobe do that kind of stuff on the margins it got a little bit dicey like I said before a 15 to four run by the magic to go from down 20 to down by nine Quinn called two timeouts in like two and a half minutes it was a little bit

You know worrisome in fact Orlando had the ball down nine so the game was not even close to over but the hwks got a steal on that possession then B out a dunk kind of stopped the bleeding a little bit and then another another stop

And a bucket and it was safe again so it never got below nine you know in retrospect was it as close as I think it was a closer game than 17 probably tells you but uh it was also the Hawks were never truly panicking like up nine with

Three months to go like you’re still in control of the game it’s just that some of that PTSD comes back about the Hawks blowing leads earlier in the year but um yeah hey they held on and they got the win and we’ll leave it there for now but

Obviously pled to get to about the player stuff on this podcast but um you know not really any like possession by possession drama down the stretch but literally highlights for pretty much everyone outside of maybe capella and Garrison was just okay but like as we’ll

Get into in a second when we talk we talk about the players you know bay had some nice big moments Jaylen had a huge stretch in the third quarter as did Murray the two threes by bogey that were huge shots in the third quarter I thought Hunter was awesome in this game

Honestly so a lot of positives to talk about and we’ll get into all that momentarily but first a word from our sponsors on today’s podcast Today’s Show is brought to you by Stitch biix the Stitch biix you get to sty youchange your style your size and your

Budget and they do all the shopping for you makes it the easiest possible way to update your wardrobe this season with Stitch fix I get my Styles my size and budget preferences and my style preferences as well then I order boxes when I want to and how I want to with no

Subscription required and then they send me five just for me pieces plus outfit recommendations and pro styling advice I keep what works for me and send the rest back to them my stylist is also looking to send just right pieces and the fit is always on point and they make it also

Very easy for you at Stitch fit I don’t like to shop and they save me a ton of time and effort and not having to do that honestly and plus I have the outfits that I really think make me look good and feel really good as well if you

Don’t love something just send it back to stitchfix and they have shipping returns and exchanges they’re always free at Stitch fix they give you the style that makes you feel as good as you look and you can get started today at stitchfix.com lockon that is stitchfix.com lockon one more time the

Place to go is stitchfix.com lockon all right and to the player breakdowns at the end of the podcast um nine guys appeared for Atlanta only two guys that were active and available to play did not play in this one that was Patty Mills and West Matthews they are

The old guys the resident veteran old heads and that’s okay um we will see I’m not going to do my entire rant about Trent Forest still being on the roster right now on a two-way contract um still two and a half weeks in no resolution there I think the Hawks just have to

Have to have to do something there and actually bring in someone either at forward or at Center for some depth but no I will uh hold my hold to my pledge and not do that rant on this podcast but if you want to know more I’ve talked

About it a lot on Twitter and on this podcast and also on patreon.com BTR Rolland in previous day so I’ll leave it there for now anyway the nine guys who played in this game the guy who played the least was Kobe buffkin that’s okay I think I would probably play him a little

Bit more uh big picture in fact I argued on the emergency podcast that I think I would probably just be trying to play Kobe 20 25 minutes a night from this point forward basically all the backup po minutes I would give to Kobe while Trey is out and also like to see him

Play with d Jon more than he did tonight I get it the Hawks like like I said before the Hawks are trying to win and I think that uh Quinn in deep in his wiring just wants to win that night I think that he probably believes that they’re better off pushing guys minutes

But like look Deon was awesome in this game he played 39 minutes that’s a lot of minutes I’m not sure he’s gonna play that much every night but maybe he will we’ll see but as for Kobe three assists had a steal had a block he had one

Bucket he was2 for three that’s okay but good energy defensively like I think it got to be overstated a little bit like he’s not like Gary pton right now on on defense but he is a good Defender right now he’s he’s getting good effort I think that he has wisely been

Coached and kind of schooled that like hey you’re a rookie you have to defend that’s been the menting in College Park as well um Ryan schmit who gets a lot of attention from Quint Snider the head coach of College Park has been doing a great job in College Park they’re really

Defending at a high level in g- League it’s different but obviously they’re playing defense in the g- league and I think that Kobe is well schooled and just tools wise like he’s a big point guard like he’s 64 4 65 and yeah he’ll be fairly small at the two when he plays

There but um good size of the point good athlete and uh he’s trying hard defensively and that’s you can’t like replicate that that’s very nice um I thought he played pretty well offensively still he’s not like dominant at the NBA level he was he ran some sets

He ran some pick and roll possessions that were fine three assists so he looked theart looked good to me more of that if I had to ask for anything um Garis Matthews 17 minutes three points on four shots is fine two two rebounds I thought I thought he compat it well

Defensively he the only him and capella were the only guys who were negative plus minus in this game B was only plus two but I thought Garrison was fine I think that you could argue that they maybe should play Kobe a little bit a few more of those minutes future facing

Wise but Garrison’s a perfectly fine player and that is uh okay with me um to the rest of the bench BR Fernando 19 minutes um was actually most more than capella played in this game capella never came back in when the game was out of hand uh seven points four assists for

Bruno only one rebound is a little bit strange in 19 minutes but had two steals physically he’s flying around and I’ve said this before four I know Glenn Wills talked about it tonight my friend and colleague m29 he’s always been on this podcast a lot as well that Bruno is a

Capable backup center he just is and that was on display again tonight he wasn’t like incredible but he’s totally fine rotation worthy and he showed it tonight Hunter was really good I thought Off the Bench 18 points seven rebounds two assists two steals always took eight

Shots from the floor got to the line six times he’s getting to the line and getting to the rim more and more often which is a very very good thing for De Ray Hunter um he’s never been the best at that but there is a reason this year

That he is um basically clearly producing at a career best level efficiency wise like 61% true shooting this year obviously the injuries um are always a question with the Andre till he proves that they’re not the knees are questionable but when he’s been out there this year he’s actually been

Pretty good and that’s uh you know right now he’s still he’s come off the bench they’re kind of treating him it seems like they’re still having to like kind of cap his minutes a little bit in that in the high he’s not gone into 30 plus

Range since he came back and by by the way that’s all right so uh he’s playing well and uh he was really good in this game couple big shots couple nice defensive plays and uh I think could just get 28 minutes of this guy from down Hunter regularly they’ll be in good

Shape to the starters click capella was not very good in this one uh he was better just like just like on Friday he was better as the game went along but he wasn’t good and I think there was this whole discussion and I’m not going to do

The whole thing now about capella and like you know he’s not been good these two games he does not look like he is physically right right now and the jokes are what they are the finishing has been a problem all year long I’m not arguing otherwise I’ve said

That in the past um also he just has to pass the ball out off on offensive rebounds but I think physically and uh it wasn’t just me to pointed this out Glenn said the same thing um and I referenced that on on Twitter tonight it seems to me that capella is just not

There physically U he’s coming back off the injury Quinn kind of acknowledged that I don’t I won’t play the answer for you it’s about a minute long I shared it on my patreon tonight but uh Quinn kind of talked around it like I think that both conditioning and just like he’s not

Quite there his base isn’t quite the same place it normally is he’s not getting off the ground like he normally is part of that’s maybe age that’s fine but if you watch Clint physically a month ago two months ago it wasn’t like he was the same guy who was three years

Ago but it was way different than it is right now and right now he’s he’s killing them and that I mean that’s and people I’m sure are are laughing because um I’m the I’m the capella guy but like I’m objective about this stuff like he’s not he’s been really bad these two games

Um that doesn’t mean he’s been terrible all year because he hasn’t been but he isn’t the same guy he that he used to be but he also you have to hope because he’s going to have to keep playing part of the problem right now is that like

Yeah there’s a school of thought of like okay if he’s not physically right why is he playing you look at the roster they don’t have anybody else yes they have Bruno who could be playing more minutes I guess but um they don’t have a third Center on the roster and they have three

Forwards on on the active roster so if capella is able to physically get out there he’s going to keep playing um they should still sign another guy in the front court but um I’ll be interested to see how he starts to look physically at the weeks go on because if this is going

To be the physical part with capella they’re going to be in trouble normally he will be able to ramp up most guys are as he come back comes back to the injury and SNY expressed confidence in him um as he showed of course from from from the podium tonight but um obviously you

Know if he’s the guy who was in these last two games that’s not that’s not going to be a tough situation for a lot of people so leave it there for now but he was not very good he was kind of the only guy who was not good in this game

Um sidik Bay was fine 12 points on 11 shots two rebounds um not his best work defensively was kind of an adventure at times for sadik but um I thought he was fine and 35 minutes like he brings physicality and if you’re going to play

Small you need that kind of punch and he gives them that um bogy was okay I mentioned before he had the two big shots only the third quarter that was his actually two of the three two of the three threes that he made in this game

He was two of six from two-o range three65 rebounds um one turnover is nice in fact no one had more than three turnovers in this game and that was the jante but Bogi was plus 18 he was being guarded like a super duper I mean he almost always is but the magic were

Clearly afraid of bogie which I think is right bogie is a big threat um Jon Johnson 21 points 10 rebounds seven assists two blocks plus 16 and again he opened this game 0 of six so after that he was nine of 13 so he wasn’t super

Efficient but it was because he had a rough start once he woke up he was excellent in this one it’s a reminder that Jaylen is a terrifying Prospect in the future like he’s obviously very good now and he’s only going to get better uh and then deante 25 points 11 assist nine

Rebounds two steals it was kind of funny uh both the B broadcast and my friend Lauren Williams of the AJC kind of declared that he was going to be a triple double and he didn’t get there because he actually he basically did nothing in the fourth quarter statistically I thought he was fine

Actually he kind of was was a caretaker he had a couple of maybe some over dribbling couple of bad turnovers I thought in the fourth but um still a big night for Deon the third quarter it was mostly Deon and Jaylen that did that and that was again the key to the entire

Game so um he’s always more comfortable it’s not a shot at him by any means but it just the reality I’ve said this before especially during the trade stuff a few weeks ago Deonte is more comfortable it’s not even my it’s just very evident when he is the guy when

He’s the point guard he’s handling the ball all the time that is how he likes to play and I would argue that he has really grown as a secondary guy and his efficiency has really boosted this year because he’s not been the guy every time

But he still likes to play this way and it’s a reminder like he can still do it like he’s a really good player he’s not as good at this as Trey is but like doesn’t mean he’s not a good player so was huge in this win for the Hawks again

2511 and n on pretty solid efficiency and uh yeah a big performance and it’s it’s very helpful like in previous years pre deon’s arrival they couldn’t really get away with Trey being out offensively um if deon’s got it they’re all right it’s the night it’s the nights when he

Doesn’t have it and that’s going to happen because he’s not going to have it every night that’s when you get into some dire territory but you know tonight he had it they’re one for one and they won the game comfortably so from here I will plug this one more

Time I did a 20 plus minute emergency podcast about the Trey young stuff I talked about the future on that show his impact of not being there um the timeline because again it’s it’s re-evaluation in four weeks not return in four weeks reevaluation so uh he

Might not be back this year we will see on that front it will certainly matter in that discussion where the Hawks are in the standings and this is one win but they won a game tonight that they needed to win to kind of stay in it they’re

Still the 10 seed they’re still in playing position and uh we’ll see from here and I say that now is sort of the up next portion because they have another winable home game on Tuesday they play the Jazz at home that’s the first time they’ve seen Utah this year

They have go to Utah in a couple weeks um also the first time the Hawks have ever faced John Collins on the opposing team that that’ll be interesting um his reception coming back home to Atlanta Etc that’ll be the talking point of the night um obviously it would have been a

Little bit more of a talking point even if Trey was around but um that’ll be something we’ll see how the Jazz play the Jazz are not a great team by any means but they are playing at a reasonable level this year they have a better record than the Hawks do um

That’s a home game so the Hawks might be coin flips might even be favored on Utah injury situation but um a winnable one for sure they’re not playing you know a great team at home on Tuesday um from there it gets a little bit more difficult they have a three- game trip

All to New York they play the Nets twice on the road and the Knicks once on that road trip and it’s a kind of a three- game mini stand in the city of New York with actually kind of convenient like they fly up there once and then they’re

There for like five days interesting but we’ll talk about it more later on this week um I’ll sign off now I’ve done a lot of talking on this podcast as well as over the weekend I’ll just plug the Pod one more time uh if you’re listening to this podcast um by Monday afternoon

We should be back on the audio platforms and I would definitely encourage you to subscribe to the show multiple times if you are able to do so and willing to do so Auto download the podcast likes follows ratings reviews all that stuff is appreciated we are on Apple we are on

Spotify we are on Amazon music we on overcast also on YouTube Follow the show on Twitter SLX loton Hawks I am also on there at BTR Roland my written work on the Hawks right now is at patreon.com BTR Rolland I also share some audio clips from Quin Snider and

Some players all that stuff that is on there as well if it’s not on this show audio-wise it’s on that patreon so keep an eye on that uh certainly would welcome your support and really appreciate it and uh thanks for listening one more time that Tri episode’s available for you right now

Three it was a three show weekend much more to come I don’t know when the next show is going to be it’ll be at the very latest on Tuesday after the game against Utah maybe something in between then but I won’t commit to that just now because

Of the extra show today so stay tuned and the best place to find us always is by just subscribing because then that it’ll be delivered to your to your inbox if you’re an audio subscriber or or you like the the Ping On YouTube if you are a subscriber on that platform and thanks

For listening everybody enjoy the rest of your weekend if you’re listening to this podcast on Sunday nights if not enjoy the starts of your week on Monday and we’ll see you next time

Brad Rowland (@BTRowland, DIME on UPROXX) hosts episode No. 1661 of the Locked on Hawks podcast. The show breaks down Sunday’s game between the Atlanta Hawks and the Orlando Magic, including big nights from Dejounte Murray and Jalen Johnson, Atlanta’s strong defense, a game without two stars, Kobe Bufkin at point guard, 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!

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)