The Atlanta Hawks entered Thursday night's game at Barclays Center with lofty expectations, at least through the lens of a single game. The Hawks were 13.5-point betting favorites against the Brooklyn Nets at tip-off, marking the large point spread favorite that Atlanta has been in a game during the 2024-25 season. As such, anything short of a comfortable win would have been at least a mild disappointment, but Zaccharie Risacher and the Hawks quickly ensured that there would be no doubt about the result in Game No. 80 of 82.
Atlanta raced to a 20-4 run to begin the game and led by double-digits for the final 43 minutes of action. After approximately nine minutes of the first quarter, Risacher was out-scoring the entire Nets team by a 13-11 margin, and Brooklyn missed 13 of its first 14 shots to dig a hole that Brooklyn simply could not emerge from on this night. In fact, the Nets scored only 14 points on 28 possessions in the first quarter, and the damage was done from there.
Even with a flurry of shotmaking in fourth quarter garbage time, the Nets managed to score only 1.01 points per possession in the game, illustrating the dominant nature of Atlanta's defense. Brooklyn converted only 37 percent of its two-point attempts in the game, and the Nets scored only 24 points in the paint. That was the fewest allowed by the Hawks in a game this year, and Brooklyn flirted with the fewest points in the paint by any team in the NBA in 2024-25 before turning it on a bit in the second half.
While defense arguably led the way for the Hawks in the midst of a blowout win, Risacher was the lead story on offense. After the 13-point explosion in the opening minutes, he did not slow down in the slightest. In his first 13 minutes of action, Risacher generated 23 points, scoring in a variety of different ways movement 3-pointers to acrobatic finishes at the rim.
Zaccharie Risacher put an exclamation point on his impressive rookie season
Risacher finished with 38 points on only 22 possessions, converting all nine of his two-point attempts in addition to 6-11 from beyond the 3-point arc. He also finished with a game-high +28 in terms of on-off splits, and Atlanta was utterly dominant in his minutes.
Beyond the clearly impressive nature of his shooting line, Risacher also made a bit of season-long history. His 38 points marked a career high and, in a more competitive game, Risacher almost certainly could have logged 40-plus points given that he did not score (and only took one shot) over the final 10:49 of the contest. From there, Risacher's 38-point outing was the highest scoring game by an NBA rookie this season, and it was also his fourth 30-point outing, most by any first-year player in the league.
While it would be fair to note that Brooklyn's available roster was not exactly stellar and that certainly played a part in Atlanta's blowout victory, Risacher was outstanding, and he may have timed his explosion well. Entering this week, San Antonio's Stephon Castle was a substantial betting favorite to win NBA Rookie of the Year honors, and Castle does lead the rookie class in points and assists. However, Risacher has a substantial edge in shooting efficiency, and many advanced numbers point in his direction when compared head-to-head with Castle.
Could Risacher's big game be enough to turn the heads of voters at this late juncture? That remains to be seen, but there is a clear argument that he just had the best game by a rookie in 2024-25, and it comes at the backend of a stretch that is undeniable in its prowess.
Since returning in full from a brief injury absence in late January, Risacher is averaging 15.2 points per game on 51.9 percent shooting and 42.4 percent from 3-point range for an effective field goal percentage of 61.8 percent. That is a wildly impressive half-season for a player who just turned 20 years old this week, and if nothing else, Risacher is flashing all of the signs that made him Atlanta's choice as the No. 1 overall pick back in June.