The Atlanta Hawks secured back-to-back victories against the Indiana Pacers as they claimed victory in the rematch of Thursday’s game, 120-118, on Saturday night. Trae Young led all scorers with 36 points, while Caris LeVert added 26 points. For the Pacers, Bennedict Mathurin scored 30 points, and Pascal Siakam added 23 points for the visitors.
For the second successive game, Tyrese Haliburton was absent for the Pacers, which meant that this was likely to be another affair between the two sides that would be difficult to call favorite. When the game tipped off, it was the Hawks who established themselves in very convincing fashion, racing out to a 15-5 intro before outscoring Indiana 39-19 in the first quarter, with Young starring with an extremely efficient first quarter.
The Pacers reined in the lead in the second quarter but the Hawks ended the half on a positive note, taking a 15 point lead into the locker room. The Hawks initially pushed this lead back to 18 points but the Pacers again began to cut into the lead, reducing the gap to single digits and outscored the hosts 36-26. In the fourth quarter, the Pacers continued to press their second half advantage, having found a way to finally limit the Hawks inside, and would re-take the lead in the fourth quarter.
With the momentum firmly on Indiana’s side and the Hawks seemingly reeling, how did they manage to wrestle back the initiative in this game and secure victory?
Let’s take a look.
With just under five minutes remaining in the game and tied at 109 apiece, the Pacers attack through Mathurin, but his drive is disrupted by Onyeka Okongwu who gets his hands in for the steal. Young then leads the 2-on-1 break, with LeVert streaking ahead of him, and Young finds him to give the Hawks the lead again:
After an Aaron Nesmith basket to tie the game, the Hawks are quick to re-take the lead again as Young drives inside and hoists a runner high off glass which drops in, with Young expecting a foul call:
The Pacers attempt to make an immediate reply, but Mathurin’s drive is contested by Georges Niang, and the Hawks run in transition, with Young and LeVert again linking up, this time for an alley-oop, giving the Hawks a four point lead and an Indiana timeout:
This worked out beautifully for Atlanta; Young is clearly gassed by this point — fighting a quad contusion injury — and was beaten easily by Mathurin’s drive and looked tired when delivering the pass to LeVert but the quick Atlanta burst burns an Indiana timeout, giving Young and the Hawks a moment’s respite.
After which, the Hawks’ defense is what sustains them through this next stint. Out of the timeout, good defense from the Hawks keeps the Pacers on the perimeter, and Nesmith’s shot is missed:
Niang showed a great switch here to prevent Nembhard turning the corner, and Dyson Daniels does really well to cover for Niang’s assignment of Myles Turner to prevent the pass inside.
After a missed three from Young, the Hawks’ defense again comes through for them as they shift on the perimeter before the drive from Turner is disrupted by Okongwu’s dig to knock the ball loose and another hand from LeVert helps deflect the ball off Turner and out of bounds to the Hawks:
The Hawks are unable to break through offensively (Niang misses a three after a great pass from Young) and have to rely on their defense once again. Daniels is taken out of the equation as Nembhard gets a good screen from Nesmith.
However, Daniels continues to tail Nembhard and leaves Nesmith wide open on the perimeter, and when Nembhard kicks the ball back out Daniels is way behind. Nevertheless, he covers the ground and prevents the straightaway three, and even when he’s faked off balance, he still manages to recover and get a good contest on Nesmith’s three which is missed:
This was a very impressive recovery from Daniels to get this final contest up after having to cover/recover ground.
When the Pacers finally get a basket — a last second shot from Nembhard — the Hawks are quick to restore their four point lead, as Young receives the hand-off from Okongwu — who slips inside — and returns the ball to his big as the Pacers fail to cover his roll, and Okongwu finishes at the rim:
Nembhard makes another reply to cut the lead to two points, and the Hawks this time cannot reply as they get two chances to do so: first through a missed layup at the rim from LeVert, and then a Young three after Okongwu’s rebound buys the Hawks a second opportunity:
This was a bad shot from Young in this spot with time still on the clock, now the Pacers have a chance to tie or take the lead with under 30 seconds left. Young would commit another infraction, as he fouls Turner on the other end and send him to the line where he can tie the game:
The Hawks catch a break as Turner splits the free throws and the Hawks still hold a one-point lead and the Pacers forced to foul. Young dispatches all free throws to give the Hawks a three-point lead, and needing a three to tie the game Siakam drives straight to the hoop for a two, much to his team’s disbelief.
The Hawks ice the game as Young hits the first free throw and, with 0.5 seconds remaining, misses the second free throw with an high-looping free throw (that just about hits the rim) to end the game and give the Hawks a 120-118 victory.
It was an odd ending to the game, and Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle could only guess as to what Siakam had thought was the game scenario.
“He must have thought there was more time,” said Carlisle postgame. “You could tell when he lay the ball in he knew it was a mistake.”
“I was very surprised,” added Young of Siakam’s blunder. “I’ve known him for a while, I see him in the summer time. He’s a very smart player, I feel like that wasn’t a smart play. He knows that now looking back at it. He’s a hell of a player, he just made a weird mistake at the end of the game. He’s a great player, smart player, he’s one of my good friends.”
For the game itself, the Hawks played a great first quarter and strong first half in which they scored 69 on 60% shooting but struggled in the second half, scoring 51 points on 32% shooting from the field.
“You guys know what NBA games are like,” opened Hawks head coach Snyder. “It used to be when you were up 20 in the second quarter and you lost the game people would think you choked. But teams can score and they’re a good team. They picked it up physically, we got stagnant on the offensive end but I liked how we responded...”
While the second half paints a different picture, when you look at the miscellaneous stats the Hawks were strong across the board: 58 points in the paint, 20 fastbreak points, 20 points off of turnovers, and 23 second chance points. Those 23 second chance points were converted thanks to 16 offensive rebounds, eight of them coming from Onyeka Okongwu, who was everywhere last night: 16 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field, 16 rebounds, two assists, three steals, and three blocks. He was a force on both ends of the floor, and every Hawk who spoke postgame spoke of Okongwu.
Snyder was asked initially about Caris LeVert (who we’ll discuss later) and felt the urge to praise Okongwu before discussing LeVert, praising Okongwu’s plays in the clutch.
“The best player we had tonight in the clutch was Onyeka,” said Snyder. “He got every rebound, he made every play. Sometimes those plays aren’t as noticeable as someone who makes a bucket.”
“O is super versatile, he does it on both ends of the floor,” added LeVert. “He’s super strong in there, you saw late game he got huge rebounds. He’s got great touch. I was on him before the game that he doesn’t have a left hand, but he’s got both hands around the rim. He’s showing the three-point touch as well and he’s talking more defensively, that’s what we need from him out there on that end of the floor. He’s been great for us.”
Okongwu, as ever in his postgame availability, gave a brief account of his game.
“I’m always trying to crash the glass, keep plays alive, get as any possessions as possible,” said Okongwu.
Okongwu is not one to give long or detailed quotes and he certainly understates his impact in this game — rebounding, steals, deflections, blocks, pick-and-roll...it was hard not to notice Okongwu whenever he was on the court.
A similar sentiment could be echoed when it came to Caris LeVert, who was a force himself off the bench scoring 26 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field and 4-of-7 from three. LeVert, like Young, is able to blend high-scoring on some nights and playmaking on another night — last night it was the scoring effort the Hawks needed. When the time called for it, LeVert can call upon this scoring ability.
“Caris, he’s got the ability to create his own shot,” said Snyder of LeVert. “One of the things he’s been doing a really good job of is creating an opportunity and then finding other people as well. When he’s able to draw defenders like that it’s what allows someone like Onyeka to get on the glass. Extra possessions late in the game are huge.”
LeVert relishes the opportunity, no matter what end of the floor he’s able to make an impact on.
“Really it’s just doing whatever it takes to win, whether that be defensively, blocking a shot, getting a rebound, getting a loose ball, making a shot,” said LeVert. “I’m just not scared of those moments, and I’ve been in a lot of them and I think I really relish in those moments.”
LeVert has been a major positive for the Hawks since joining the Hawks in February, his ability to break defenses down off the drive opens up opportunities for himself and his teammates, and LeVert praised his new teammates and coach in thriving in his new home.
“My teammates and coach are doing a great job putting me in position to be successful and playing to my strengths,” said LeVert. “Trae’s been amazing. First couple of games he was passing and going into tonight’s game he knew we needed a scoring punch, and he’s one of those special players who can do that on any given night, he can turn it on whether it’s scoring or passing. He’s been great to play with, and it seems like we’ve played together for longer than we have, it’s only been a few weeks to put it in perspective. He’s one of the best point guards I’ve played with, for sure.”
Dyson Daniels registered another five steals, with Trae Young praising his efforts in addition to LeVert’s and Okongwu’s.
“We didn’t get stops the way we wanted to, but offensively we got to where we wanted to be and the spacing was great,” said Young. “Caris had an unbelievable game again, everybody was playing aggressive. Big O was rebounding, playing defense, getting some buckets on the other end. It was good seeing Dyson do what he does, defensive player of the year. It was great, everyone contributed to this win tonight.”
Young himself played well in this game, scoring 36 points on 11-of-24 from the field, 3-of-12 from three and 11-of-12 from the free throw line — the first half in particular he was fantastic, scoring 26 points on 9-of-13 shooting. In the second half, Young and the Hawks were slowed significantly but even in these struggles and difficult shots in the fourth quarter Young was ever reliable at the free throw line to secure the victory.
Young also had a second half injury to contend with, a quad contusion suffered in the third quarter:
Postgame, Young was unhappy with the nature of how this took place, believing that he deserved a foul call.
“It’s frustrating,” said Young. “It’s one basketball out there and three guys looking at the basketball and don’t see a guy picking up fullcourt. You can’t stay in front of me without fouling in fullcourt one-on-one. It’s an obvious play, another turnover on me, it’s all good, we won.”
Young has often been at odds with officials in his postgame comments and takes another dig here. It was something even postgame he was still unhappy with as he alluded when asked about getting back on the court in the second half.
“We did so many stretches, different movements to see how I felt and if I wanted to go out there and give it a go,” said Young. “They (the Hawks training staff) weren’t pressuring me to do anything but I was more frustrated that I was even in that situation and didn’t get a foul, so I wanted to go out there and at least get the win.”
“The game got really physical,” added Snyder. “Terance took a shot in the neck — those things are going to happen as far as Trae’s case because he’s aggressive offensively and he draws fouls, and there’s going to be contact. I don’t want to diminish his size but I think it’s even more noteworthy that he’s able to play through contact like that when he’s not 240 pounds.”
Prior to the game, it was a toss up between the two sides. The first half saw a dominant display from the Hawks, and the second half the Pacers were comfortably the better side — it did just about even out in the end. When the game was tied in the fourth quarter, it was the Hawks who executed on both ends — they scored those quick four points to take the 115-111 lead and from the subsequent timeout the Hawks’ defense was strong and though their offense slowed down, the defense ultimately got this job done.
Right now, the win moves the Hawks into the seventh seed ahead of the Orlando Magic, with two games in April to come, including the final game of the regular season.
The Hawks (30-34) are back in action on Monday night against the Philadelphia 76ers (21-41) at State Farm Arena.
Until next time!