While the Cleveland Cavaliers are in their own stratosphere with 15 consecutive victories, the Atlanta Hawks now own the second-longest active winning streak in the Eastern Conference. The Hawks took care of business at home on Wednesday, defeating the Charlotte Hornets by a final margin of 123-110. That victory came just two days after a relatively similar game against the (very) shorthanded Philadelphia 76ers and, while neither game will be remembered for its aesthetics, Atlanta simply put together a solid enough performance to improve to 32-34 on the season.
The Hawks stumbled a bit out of the gate on Wednesday, yielding an early 13-4 run to the Hornets that was marked by Charlotte producing three consecutive dunks.
"They were loose and they were making shots," Hawks head coach Quin Snyder said postgame of the early struggles on defense. "There were too many shots that weren't contested... We had some breakdowns in pick-and-roll. We knew it would be a heavy pick-and-roll game. Our bottom weakside defender wasn't in the right position... that's when they got a couple of dunks. I thought we did a good job of cleaning that up."
As Snyder noted, the Hawks did clean things up and, for the rest of the game, there was little to nitpick for Atlanta's defense. The Hawks ended the night yielding fewer than 1.04 points per possession, and havoc creation was a major part of the success, as Atlanta forced 21 turnovers, including 13 steals.
Dyson Daniels, as often, was in the middle of the attack for the Hawks, generating four steals and two blocks while also operating as the primary defender against LaMelo Ball. With those six stocks (steals + blocks), Daniels now leads the NBA in total stocks for the season, surpassing the injured Victor Wembanyama. If that pace continues, he will be the first perimeter player to lead the league in stocks since Michael Jordan in 1987-88, which speaks for itself.
The Hawks led narrowly at halftime after what could be described as a "rock fight" over the first 24 minutes. However, Atlanta's offense seized control in the second half, scoring the first 11 points of the third quarter and never looking back. All told, the Hawks generated more than 1.3 points per possession after halftime, with Trae Young leading the way with 26 second half points.
Young finished with 35 points on 59.8 percent true shooting to go along with a game-high 12 assists and seven rebounds. The rest of Atlanta's offense was rather egalitarian, as each of Atlanta's ten players who saw action scored at least six points. The Hawks also received a big push from the bench, with the reserves scoring 57 points on 53.1 percent shooting and 10-20 from three-point range. The game marked the 20th occasion this season in which Atlanta's bench reached 50 points, setting a new franchise record, even with 16 games remaining.
Trae Young's free throw brilliance
If you missed it over the weekend, Trae Young missed a free throw on purpose in the final seconds on Saturday against the Indiana Pacers to help preserve a narrow win for the Hawks. On the surface, that was not a particularly notable occurrence, but it also snapped a streak of 47 consecutive free throws made for Young, which was just three short of the franchise record.
Young then missed Monday's win over the Philadelphia 76ers with a quad contusion, meaning that Wednesday's game marked his first action since the intentional miss. Right on cue, Young put together an historic free throw performance. He converted all 21 of his free throw attempts in the game, becoming only the sixth player in NBA history to shoot 100 percent on at least 21 attempts in a game.
That would be impressive enough on its own, but Young has now made 68 of his last 69 free throws over approximately a three-week span. And, of course, the one and only miss was intentional. That isn't quite history-making, but it's close.
Up next for the Hawks
The Hawks host old friend Bogdan Bogdanovic and the L.A. Clippers on Friday evening. That will mark the sixth and final game of Atlanta's longest homestand of the season. Of note, Bogdanovic is coming off his best game of the year in which he scored 30 points in a win over the Miami Heat on Wednesday. That result actually helped the Hawks in the standings, and now Bogdanovic will face his old team for the first time since a February trade that sent Terance Mann to Atlanta.