The Hawks faced a tough test on Monday night when they hosted the Celtics at State Farm Arena. Last season’s NBA champs unleashed a shooting barrage that led to an overwhelming 123-93 victory over the Hawks.
Here are five observations.
1. The Celtics shut Trae Young down. They blitzed him. They trapped him at half court and they cut off his looks at the basket.
The Hawks’ top guard made just one field goal through his first 23 minutes, where he went 1-of-10 from the floor. He had just two points as he couldn’t penetrate the Celtics defense to get in the paint and draw contact.
Young has ended a game with just one field goal two times in the 415 career games he has played. But the Celtics effectively cut him off as a scoring option leaving the Hawks to try and find other options to get points on the board.
After playing 40 or more minutes in three of the first eight games, with minimal rest, the Hawks have been able to scale back in the last two games. But, Hawks coach Quin Snyder said Young was worn down.
He exited at the end of the third quarter and the Hawks ruled him out with a right rib sprain.
2. The Hawks got a big hand from Jalen Johnson, who followed up his 29-point night in New Orleans with a double-double. He scored 20 points, had 11 rebounds and four assists in 30 minutes as he tried to help pull the Hawks out of 30-plus point hole.
Johnson had begun the season shakily, shooting 29.7% from the floor and 20% from 3. But the 22-year-old has scored 20 or more points in four of the last five games and he’s done so more efficiently making almost 53% of his shots from the basket.
Prior to the game, Snyder talked about Johnson measuring his success against himself. And Johnson continues to find ways to impact the game, even when some of those passes did not get converted.
3. One of Johnson’s passes that found the bottom of the net was a lob to Onyeka Okongwu with 9:37 to play in the second quarter. Okongwu returned to the lineup after missing Sunday’s game against Pelicans as the team manages his injury.
Okongwu missed just four of his 12 overall shot attempts, scoring 18 points and pulling down 10 rebounds.
The Hawks fifth-year center also gave the team a lift in the paint, busting up Celtics lob attempts to their bigs. He finished the night with two steals.
4. Playing for the second time in as many nights proved to be a tough task for the Hawks, who won in New Orleans Sunday night while the Celtics were off after winning in Charlotte on Saturday.
The effects of playing on back-to-back nights caught up with the Hawks early when they struggled to get out to the perimeter in time to contest jumpers from deep. The Celtics made four of their first seven shot attempts from three in the first five minutes of the game and Jayson Tatum got hot early with 16 points by the end of the third.
But the Hawks allowed the Celtics to make 15-of-34 3s by the end of the first half and they never quite recovered.
5. As with most rookies, the top overall pick has not had the easiest of starts to his career. Hawks No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher, who scored 15 points, had three rebounds and two assists, has opened his career, shooting 31.4% overall and 21.9% from 3 as he adjusts to the physicality and athleticism of the NBA.
But Risacher has not let the growing pains affected his aggressiveness and he has kept attacking the basket with confidence. Despite the shots not falling, he continues to make the right reads, driving in and collapsing the paint in a way that could eventually open up shots for the Hawks on the perimeter.
“One of the biggest things that we try to emphasize with Zach is if he’s open, is to make sure he shoots it,” Snyder said. “And off, that his ability to make quick reads get in the paint.”
Stat to know
14 -- Celtics totaled a current season high in a game with 14 steals.
Quotable
“It’s amazing how you know last night, there’s a level of enthusiasm and elation, and then one day later... that’s the NBA, the key thing is to just power through it.” Snyder on the highs and lows of a season.
Up Next
The Hawks have a day off on Tuesday before returning to State Farm Arena to host the Knicks.
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