ORLANDO -- Despite closing out regulation well and outscoring the Magic 27-20 in the fourth, the Hawks did not close out enough possessions to finish out the game. They fell 117-110 to the Magic.
Here are five observations.
1. Slow starts have plagued the Hawks at beginning of games and the beginning of second halves. It plagued them again on Sunday, this time to kick off both halves as well as an overtime period despite a game-tying dunk from Hawks forward Saddiq Bey.
The Hawks knew that they would need to limit 2023 NBA Rookie of the Year, Paolo Banchero. But they allowed him to score back-to-back buckets, one from 3 and then a layup, while also sending him to the line for a couple of free throws.
Hawks Jalen Johnson, who had 12 points and 11 rebounds, as well as Trae Young, who had 31 points and nine assists, hit a pair of shots that kept the game within one possession.
Clint Capela tried to draw a charge off Banchero, who scored 35 points and had 10 rebounds, but officials overturned the call before the forward hit a fadeaway jumper to push the Magic’s lead to 115-110 and the game out of reach with 1:19 to play.
“We did a lot of good things defensively and we have to close possession,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “Those are demoralizing situations when you play good defense and then you don’t finish the possession.”
2. Defense looked better on Sunday in comparison to Friday where the Hawks gave up 150 points to the Pacers. They held the Magic under 100 points, not allowing them to cross that threshold until 3:58 remained in the game.
“I guess that’s where my focus is on that, is I thought we really competed and put ourselves in a position to win the game,” Snyder said.
While defense showed up on Sunday, the offense did not with the Hawks shooting under 40% for the second-straight game.
Like the Magic, the Hawks did not crack 100 points 1:20 left in regulation.
“I think we’ve got to be better just on offensive execution, just hit some more shots, stuff like that,” Bey, who scored 16 points and had seven rebounds, said. “But, usually, it’s been the opposite. We score a lot of points, we give a lot, but we play better defensively. So next game we just have to have a mix of both and it’s play well both ends.”
3. The Hawks have had some trouble in third quarters as of late.
The Hawks led by nine at the end of the first half, but the Magic carved the Hawks up in the third quarter as they got whatever shot they wanted as the Hawks’ intensity in boxing out dipped.
The Magic outscored the Hawks 34-18 as they crashed the boards and took advantage of the lack of boxing out. Ten of the Magic’s points in the third quarter came off of second-chance boards as they quickly kicked the ball out to open shooters or made quick layups off the offensive rebound. They ended up outscoring the Hawks 25-6 on second-chance points.
It didn’t help that the Hawks couldn’t get their offense going with just seven made field goals in the entire frame.
4. With 3:56 to play, the Hawks trailed the 100-93. They’d gone 13-of-21 from the free-throw line and ended up going 4-of-8 from the free-throw line for the remainder of the game.
Coming into the night the Hawks have been one of the better free-throw shooting team. They rank third in the league in free-throw shooting percentage and on off shooting nights from the line, they can usually depend on their shooting from distance to make up ground.
But the Hawks put up their worst night of the season from the line and they put up their sixth-worst night from deep.
5. Magic forward Caleb Houstan took complete advantage of the Hawks leaving him outside, hitting a career-high seven 3s on a career-high 14 attempts. He scored a season-high 25 points with all but one of his field goals coming from long range.
Coming into the evening, Houstan averaged just 2.8 three-point attempts, while making 39.2% of them. But he caught fire on Sunday evening and his Magic teammates kept feeding him and he kept knocking them down.
Stat to know
4 -- Bogdan Bogdanovic tied his career high for most steals in a single outing after picking off two-way guard Trevelin Queen in the fourth quarter. He has had 11 four-steal games in his career.
Quotable
“Yeah. I didn’t see the monitor, but it looked to me like it was a charge.” -- Quin Snyder on the overturned call in overtime.
Up Next
The Hawks host the 76ers on Wednesday to kick off a five-game homestand.
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