Hawks rookie Zaccharie Risacher keeps giving NBA voters reasons he should be the Rookie of the Year.
The latest reason came in the form of a career-high 36 points in the Hawks’ 145-124 win over the Bucks on Sunday. Risacher passed his previous career-high of 33 points after making 12-of-21 of his overall shots, five of which came from 3.
Though the rookie set a new marker for his career, it continues the consistency he has found since returning from a left adductor strain that sidelined him for seven games at the end of January. Since Jan. 30, the 19-year-old has averaged 15.2 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists.
He became the 10th teenager in NBA history to score at least 36 points in a single game, according to Hawks PR. He also has the most games with 30-plus points with five or more 3-pointers made by a teenager in NBA history, according to StatMamba.
“I feel like, I always say, I always try to play hard every time I step on the court, to give 200% and that’s just the way I am, the way I’m playing the game,” Risacher said Tuesday. “No matter what, I want to contribute to and have an impact and win basketball games. So no matter what is going on, I will play hard and run the floor, play hard on defense, try to get some steals, try to get easy shots, and that’s what I’m gonna do. And I feel like it’s my way to get into the right rhythm to play good basketball.”
The Hawks have gone 14-13 in Risacher’s statistical surge, as they try to make a push out of the Play-In Tournament. They currently sit in seventh place and four games behind the Bucks, who slipped to sixth following the Hawks’ win on Saturday. The Hawks own the tiebreak on the Bucks after winning three of the games in this season’s series.
Risacher, who turns 20 on April 8, has thrived in that push because the game has begun to slow down for him.
“I feel like, each game it’s new, and I feel like each game I’m getting better,” he said. “The game starts to slow down for me, and I feel more comfortable, and I’m just trying to take advantage of it. I’m playing hard every night. I’m competing and also as a team, we have high expectations, and we’re just trying to do our best and I really enjoy playing in this type of environment where everybody is competing at the highest level, and we’re just having fun. So it’s great.”
The rest of the world has begun to see the joy that Risacher plays with after the rookie completed not one but two highlight dunks within the last week.
Last Tuesday, Risacher put a poster on Rockets center Alperen Sengun after switching the ball to his left hand midair to avoid the block. Six days later, Risacher hit a reverse dunk off a lob from Hawks guard Trae Young.
“That was probably my favorite play of the game, just because I wasn’t expecting that, and I just did my best to put the ball into the basket, and it happens to be a great highlight,” Risacher said. “So, yeah, it was fun. And then just to see the reaction from the bench, it was cool for me.”
The Hawks did their best to remind Risacher to have fun this season. But Risacher also remained behind in the gym and worked on his game. He would go to the practice facility early before practice and put shots up to find the right rhythm. He sometimes returned to the gym at night and put up more shots and sharpen his skills.
“I just feel like I built habits during my journey, and I was trying to focus on the right things, which is obviously playing good basketball as a team, competing, playing hard and just be consistent in my work,” Risacher said. “And I just feel like this mindset helped me go through the season, go through the all the expectations the media and all that, just being able to be in my bubble with just me and my teammates.”
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