The Nuggets handed the Hawks a 141-111 loss on Sunday after jumping on them early in the matchup at State Farm Arena. The 30-point blowout snapped the Hawks' six-game win streak.
Here are five observations.
1. Despite playing back-to-back nights, the Nuggets looked like the team with fresher legs, especially early. Nuggets center Nikola Jokic scored 48 points, one night after dropping a career-high 56 points in a loss to the Wizards. The Nuggets led 38-23 after the first quarter and 71-48 at the half.
Jokic absolutely decimated the Hawks, hitting ridiculous shots that looked like they had no business going in. Late in the first half, Jokic fired a 40-foot jumper despite a heavy contest from Clint Capela. The shot fell at the shot clock buzzer and with 0.5 seconds left.
Even when the Hawks heavily defended him, sending help to cut him off, Jokic still found ways to score. He had 25 of his 48 points in the first half. He ended his night with 14 rebounds and eight assists, two shy of a triple-double when Nuggets coach Michael Malone cleared the bench with 2:10 to play.
2. Jokic and the Nuggets shot 62.9% from the floor, some of which came on wide-open baskets. The Hawks lacked urgency, allowing the Nuggets to beat them to 50-50 rebounds and get out in transition for easy dunks.
Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. finished with eight dunks. Porter caught the Hawks flat-footed, beating them with cuts to the basket, some on backdoor cuts and some by beating them down the floor in transition.
Porter scored 26 points, making 12 of 17 shots.
3. The Hawks came out with a little more energy in the second half. The best they could do was outscore the Nuggets by a point, 36-35, in the third quarter.
The Hawks started Onyeka Okongwu in the place of Clint Capela and that gave a short-lived offensive jolt. Okongwu scored six of the Hawks first nine points in the third, one of which included a putback.
Hawks guard Daniels continued his impressive defense and finished with five steals as he and rookie Zaccharie Risacher tried to help the poor defense.
Daniels dove on the floor for loose balls and at one point forced a jump ball with Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon. When the two faced off for it with 10:21 to play in the third quarter, Daniels and Risacher were the only one that two that tried corral it. Risacher ended up in the mix with Jokic for the loose ball but the two-time league MVP recovered it.
"We just came out with a little more urgency that third quarter," Daniels said. "And we were running a little more. We were defending. We were getting stops."
4. When the Hawks did generate plays in transition, the Nuggets didn't shy away from playing physical defense and going up to block the shot. With 5:49 in the third, De'Andre Hunter went up for a layup in transition and Gordon elbowed him in the head as he went to block the ball.
Hunter fell out of bounds but got his hands in position to break the fall. He rolled over and immediately held his head.
Officials did not call it a foul in real time and charged a timeout because Hunter laid on the ground as Hawks medical staff attended to him. When he got to his feet, he looked at officials, shook his head and went straight to the team's locker room.
The officials later admitted to a missed foul call.
"During live play, we felt Gordon makes legal contact to the ball with his right hand," chief official Mark Lindsay told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution which served as the pool reporter. "However, during postgame video review, we observed that Gordon makes illegal contact with his forearm across the side of Hunter's head and a foul should have been called."
Hunter did return to the game and finished with a team-high 20 points. Daniels finished with 18 points and Trae Young had 15 points and 10 assists.
5. The Hawks returned to full health for 10 games but ruled out Bogdan Bogdanovic (left quad contusion) and Jalen Johnson (right shoulder soreness) before the game. It opened minutes for Larry Nance Jr. in the starting lineup, while Garrison Mathews came off the bench in the place of Bogdanovic.
For the second-straight game, the Hawks tapped Vic Krejci as their backup point guard.
Stat to know
Dyson Daniels is one game shy of tying Stephen Jackson (11, 2003-04) for games with four-plus steals in a single season.
Quotable
"He has no weakness. So, it's hard to contain a guy like that." Dyson Daniels on containing Nikola Jokic.
Up Next
The Hawks head to New York to face the Knicks for the quarterfinals game of the NBA Cup.
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This story was originally published December 8, 2024, 10:35 PM.