The Hawks’ 3-point shooting proved to be deadly against the Wizards on Saturday, but in a bad way. The team’s cold spell from deep limited their offensive attack in the 127-99 loss.
With multiple misses from the get-go, the Hawks shot 27.5% from 3-point range. And being down double digits as early as one minute into the second quarter, the Hawks couldn’t rely on the triple to carry them back into the contest.
“Our shot selection tonight was good, we didn’t see the ball go in,” Hawks head coach Quin Snyder said. “Sometimes we’re passing shots up, but we’ve got to keep taking open looks. And when you’re not seeing the ball go in, that’s hard too.”
The Hawks struggled to find the bottom of the basket the entire contest, shooting just 34% from the field. Yet, they weren’t any better behind the arc — an area that the Hawks take the six-most attempts from per game in the NBA (38.2).
They hit the halfway point in the first quarter with 18 attempts, but knocked down only five of them. Although the Wizards made five as well, their 11 shots from 3 reflected their consistency from all parts of the floor. Their success led to a 10-point lead by the 11:07 mark in the second quarter.
But just like the first, the Hawks couldn’t lean on the 3 to cut the deficit, making 2 of 7 attempts. The Hawks didn’t shoot over 30% from deep in a quarter on Saturday, and didn’t hit their first second-half 3 until nearly the seven minute mark in the third.
“We’re getting good shots and they just weren’t going in and it’s deflating,” Hawks guard Trae Young said. “I’m constantly preaching to my teammates, ‘keep shooting.’ Even when Saddiq (Bey) will miss a couple early, we want him to keep shooting. We want Bogi (Bogdan Bogdanovic) to keep shooting, we want Jalen (Johnson) to shoot when he’s open.”
This has been a recurring issue for the Hawks recently, though, especially in January. They’ve shot 32.1% from deep in their last 10 games in comparison to their 36.5% on the season.
Bogdanovic, who went 3 of 8 on Saturday, has shot 31% from deep this month. Bey was 2 of 7 from 3 and is shooting 29%. Even though shooting guard Dejounte Murray has knocked down 52.2% of his 3s in January, he finished 1 of 6 in the game.
Snyder wants his players to continue taking uncontested shots, even if they don’t fall. An instance of this came during the Hawks’ first offensive possession of the game. Young drove into the paint from the left wing rather than taking a 3-point shot, leading to a shot clock violation.
“I wouldn’t want to tell Bogi to pass up open ones,” Snyder said. “We had some shot clock violations because we pass up some shots, and then the next shot you get, or the next opportunity for a shot is not a good one.”
Young struggled as well from deep, making just 2 of his 10 3-point shots. But Young said his confidence in him and his teammates shooting hasn’t wavered.
The Hawks guard took his own medicine in the first quarter, missing a 3 from the outskirts of the Hawks half court logo and two possessions later making the same shot. And in a 28-point loss like Saturday’s, Young believes that he and his teammates’ shots will start to fall sooner rather than later.
“It’s going to stop raining eventually,” Young said. “I thought the first one should’ve went in and a couple of my shots have been going in and out and it’s just a part of it. There’ll be a time where they go back in and it’ll be rolling again.”
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