Atlanta was turning the page tonight a couple of days after trading Trae Young. This was now the Jalen Johnson era against the Denver Nuggets on Friday night.
Both sides had some missing pieces for tonight, but Atlanta still should feel they have the advantage and should be able to pull out a road victory.
With CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert yet to arrive, the Hawks had just nine bodies, but they really couldn’t complain with the Nuggets missing Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Cam Johnson and others.
Both teams were eager to launch threes early and often. Luke Kennard does the good deed here:
Even without Kristaps Porzingis, the Hawks had a real advantage in the big department. Both Onyeka Okongwu and Mouhamed Gueye decided to play volleyball with shots inside the arc:
After one quarter, the Hawks led 30-28.
In the second quarter, the Hawks took off behind the steals they were generating on the defensive end. They turned those opportunities into runouts, pushing the lead to 41-33 early in the period.
Throughout it all, the Hawks continued to generate steal after steal, and they managed to pad their lead every time Denver got close.
At halftime, their steal tally stood at 11 — tied for fourth-most for an NBA team this season — and they held a 58-50 advantage. Jalen Johnson was the high scorer for the Hawks with 15.
The second half, the Hawks picked up where they left off, pushing the lead to 11 at one point.
Jalen Johnson showed his grown man strength here:
But the scoring in half court situations dried up for the Hawks, and that stagnation let the Nuggets once again whittle away at the gap. At one point, Aaron Gordon got into it with Dyson Daniels and Mouhamed Gueye after he shoved Gueye.
The Nuggets used that as a momentum boost, and with the Hawks clanking threes left and right, Denver stormed into the lead: 75-74 after three.
In the fourth quarter, however, the Hawks went on a quick 7-0 timeout to force David Adelman into pausing the action to chat with his team.
Keaton Wallace was a part of that flurry:
Atlanta continued to roll from that point forward, however, establishing bigger and bigger leads. They hopped out to a 29-9 start to the quarter, effectively icing things with around four minutes left to go.
The Hawks wrapped up a satisfying 110-87 win with no stress involved. Atlanta held Denver to their first sub-100-point performance of the season.
Dyson Daniels recorded his first career triple-double with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. Jalen Johnson added 29 points, nine rebounds, and six assists. As a team, the Hawks recorded 31 assists against just six turnovers while forcing 19 turnovers on the other end.
The Hawks now head to Golden State to take on the Warriors where McCollum and Kispert are expected to join the team. That game will be on Sunday evening.