The Atlanta Hawks notched a fourth consecutive win as they took care of business at home to the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday night at State Farm Arena, 123-110.
Trae Young led the hosts with 35 points and 12 assists — including an incredible 21-of-21 from the free throw line — while Caris LeVert added 15 points. For the visiting Hornets, Miles Bridges scored 31 points, and LaMelo added 25 points to the Charlotte cause.
The Hawks were clear favorites heading into this game despite all their regular absences, and that of Clint Capela (out for family reasons), against a Hornets side who are not only among the bottom in the Eastern Conference but similarly without some key players including Brandon Miller.
This was...not the prettiest game in the world, particularly in the first half in which neither team shot above 42% from the field.
Miles Bridges scored 16 first half points on 6-of-10 shooting while Young could score just nine points on 2-of-8 shooting to reflect a poor half for the Hawks shooting the ball, relatively speaking. To end the first half, the two sides were separated by just three points with all to play for in the second half.
If Hawks head coach Quin Snyder had anything to say in the locker-room it certainly seemed to work as the Hawks came out in the second half with an 11-0 run to give the Hawks their first double-digit lead and a 14-point lead overall within the first three minutes of the second half.
After a Dyson Daniels turnover to begin the half, the Hawks get a stop between Mo Gueye being credited for a block inside on Mark Williams and before Ball misses a three — with Daniels credited for a block on the missed three. After which, Young pushes the ball up the floor, gets inside the paint, circles around, and sheds the defender and hits the easy floater:
It was hard to see the Gueye block initially but good activity inside from Gueye and another good block from Daniels on that perimeter shot. Onyeka Okongwu also did a good job sealing Williams to prevent him from contesting Young’s shot inside.
The Hawks get another stop on the following possession as Zaccharie Risacher hoists a good contest on the jumpshot after moving his feet well defensively, and when Williams tries to save the ball to a teammate, Daniels is there to pounce. Daniels pushes in transition, draws the defense and offloads the ball to Gueye, who draws the foul and free throws (hitting one out of two):
Gueye misses his second free throw but grabs his own miss, and from which the Hornets are called for a kick ball violation. From the out-of-bounds play, the Hawks catch the Hornets napping as Risacher hits a three-pointer:
Gueye would feature on the next possession too, as he does well to contest a shot from Bridges which bricks offline:
Gueye would next strike offensively as he hits a three-pointer after an offensive rebound and kick-out from Okongwu:
Gueye wasn’t done here, however, as he sticks with the Bridges drive, comes up with the steal, and Daniels streaks in transition to complete the run, give the Hawks a 14-point lead, and force a Charlotte timeout:
A very impactful stretch for Gueye in this quarter, and it gave the Hawks the separation they needed.
The lead would stretch to as many as 15 points in the third, and while the lead was briefly brought down to four points in the early stages of the fourth quarter the Hawks soon re-established control and never looked under threat. Young’s seven fourth quarter free throws — combined with 16 free throws made in the fourth quarter as a team — helped keep the Hornets at bay in a comfortable 123-110 victory to make it four in a row.
Snyder wasn’t too impressed with the Hawks’ first quarter but was pleased of the progression the Hawks made from the second quarter onwards and happy with the adjustments that were made to limit the Hornets’ effectiveness.
“The second quarter we were much better,” said Snyder when asked of the defense. “I thought they were loose, they were making shots. There were too many shots that weren’t contested and they make them anyway (but) having to shoot over a hand is different. We had some breakdowns in pick-and-roll — we knew it would be a heavy pick-and-roll game — where our bottom weak-side defender wasn’t in the right position. I think you saw Williams, that’s where they got a couple of dunks. I think we did a good job cleaning that up, you can recall there was one play where Dyson was right there and we stole the ball.
“Any time you play against a center like Williams who has that athleticism, you have to in the right position or it’s going to be tough. There was a stretch late where we fouled, and I thought that hurt us. I thought we were pretty good in transition other than some live ball turnovers where they were able to run out off our mistakes offensively.”
The Hawks’ defense was certainly active when it came to procuring steals: 13 on the night contributing to 21 Charlotte turnovers, helping result in 25 points off of turnovers. Dyson Daniels led the way with four steals, but it was certainly a team effort across the board, and an impressive one at that.
Let’s look at some steals from this game starting with Daniels, who manages to pluck this pass out of the air for a steal which feeds an opportunity for Young:
Next, Mo Gueye was active on this play as he fends of Williams and uses his length to come up with the steal on this intended pass inside:
Dominick Barlow — in the rotation in place of the absent Capela — was active last night with two steals off the bench, this recovery effort to slap the ball loose from behind on Jusuf Nurkic accounting for one of his steals:
The second steal comes as Nurkic tries to seal Barlow inside and use his physicality to back Barlow down for an easy basket, but Barlow battles and manages to tip the ball loose, eventually securing it:
Great effort from Barlow defensively in this stretch to battle against the imposing physical presence of Nurkic.
This next play involves Dyson Daniels doing Dyson Daniels things as he detects the danger of Williams rolling to the rim, drifts to the middle and rips the ball clean from Williams’ hands, who commits a take foul in frustration afterwards:
When Bridges comes down the floor and attempts to get off the ball, Daniels is in place to intercept a loose pass for his fourth steal of the game:
Here, Caris LeVert springs into action as he spots where the pass is heading and races over to poke the ball free from Williams as his instincts serve him well:
There were a few turnovers where the Hornets were just poor on the ball, such as this pass which is easily picked up by Risacher:
For the most part, the Hawks were just very active defensively and made life difficult for the Hornets, and it was a team-wide effort which Snyder praised postgame.
“It’s something I talked to the team about; I thought we got really good effort and good play from everybody that went into the game,” said Snyder when asked about forcing turnovers. “When you’re playing a 10-man rotation like we did tonight, that’s one thing you should be able to have with that aggressiveness, guys are fresher. Dom got a couple of steals denying the elbow and the ball pressure was solid, we didn’t overextend or gamble. Guys were in the right spots and were focused.”
“We played very aggressive, they still made a lot of shots and plays, but I feel our defense was there and we played very hard defensively,” added Young. “If we didn’t do that we wouldn’t have won tonight. We dug deep and got some stops.”
The Hawks didn’t shoot the ball especially well and should have had a lot more than 25 points off of turnovers — they were actually quite wasteful with their live ball steals and converting those into points, many of these live ball/fastbreak turnover opportunities weren’t converted. Many of these came from free throws, with the Hawks outscoring the Hornets 35-16 from the free throw line — the Hornets shooting 16-of-18 from the line while the Hawks shot 35-of-39 from the line.
Young led the headlines with 21 made free throws, shooting a perfect 21-of-21 from the line. Only six players have attempted 20 or more free throws in a game [this season](https://www.nba.com/stats/players/boxscores-traditional?Season=2024-25&dir=D&sort=FTA), including Young’s efforts last night, but only Young has dispatched 20 or more free throws in a game in the league this season. Young’s success extends far beyond this game: [according to StatMuse](https://www.statmuse.com/nba/ask/most-free-throws-made-in-a-game-with-100-percent-free-throw-percentage), only three other players in NBA history have hit more than 21 free throws with 100% accuracy from the line: James Harden (24), Jimmy Butler (23), and of course Hawks legend Dominique Wilkins (23).
Young shares the next spot on this list with Kevin Durant and Deron Williams, who also hit 21 free throws without a miss in a game. It’s an incredible feat that very few have ever accomplished.
Added to this, had Young not intentionally missed the last free throw against Indiana on Friday, he would have broken a franchise streak for consecutive free throws made without a miss. Before his intentional miss on Friday, Young had made 47 consecutive free throws (the record is 50, set by Kyle Korver) and made another 21 in a row last night...the streak would have been shattered by now were it not for Young’s selflessness — which Snyder referenced postgame.
On a night where Young didn’t have the best night shooting the ball from the field, these free throws were key, with Young himself outscoring the Hornets from the free throw line.
“I know how to score, if my shot’s not going I know how to get to the line,” said Young. “Not only does it help our team score but it puts them in foul trouble, especially when guys have been aggressive as they’ve been. It’s something I’ve always been able to do. Free throws are free, so you’ve got to be able to focus and knock them down; I’ve been doing that a lot more and a lot better recently.”
When Snyder was asked about Young postgame, he mentioned that Young was turning down shots in the second half to find his teammates while referencing his speed, which forces defenses to foul him.
“The shots he was getting early, I thought he was taking good shots,” said Snyder of Young. “He was turning down some of those shots in the second half and keeping his dribble alive and finding people. Trae doesn’t necessarily define himself in those two situations as far as shot making and assists — he’s good at both of them. He puts a lot of pressure on the defense and that’s what you saw tonight. He was going by people. A lot of times when someone who’s really quick goes by you there’s opportunities to draw fouls and it’s hard to stay in front of him.”
The scoring around Young was a balanced effort, with Caris LeVert the next leading scorer with 15 behind four three-pointers. The bench was fantastic — a lot of really solid and productive nights off the bench.
Georges Niang scored 12 points, Barlow scored nine points and produced a couple of steals to go with a block, Terance Mann scored 10 points and enjoyed a back-and-forth with Ball, and Vit Krejci hit three threes en route to 11 points as his return continues to represent a huge boost for the Hawks’ bench, which has been firing since the addition of LeVert, Niang, and Mann.
“They’re veterans, and that experience not only is valuable on the floor but is valuable in locker-room and practice settings,” said Snyder. “They’re all different players but every one of them helps our group and lifts us in different ways.”
All in all, not the best game of basketball in the world and the Hawks weren’t at their best in this game, but the turnover battle — which they played a big part in — helped their cause, the Atlanta bench was fantastic, and the free throw differential (led by Young’s historic night) helped nudge the hosts over the top in a comfortable victory in the end.
The Hawks (32-34) are back in action on Friday night when they’ll take on the Los Angeles Clippers (36-30) and welcome back Bogdan Bogdanovic to State Farm Arena.
Until next time!