Injuries have riddled the Hawks this season and have kept them from using a fully healthy roster most games.
All of the shuffling of the team’s rotation has often left its second unit a little depleted.
The Hawks’ bench is averaging 32.2 points per game, which is ninth worst in the NBA. Prior to the return of Bogdan Bogdanovic, the Hawks ranked among the five worst benches. Over the last 10 games with Bogdanovic in the mix, the Hawks rank fourth in the league in bench scoring (41.7 points) behind the Pistons, Spurs and Grizzlies.
But the Hawks (17-16) are looking for balanced scoring throughout games.
Atlanta has staggered the minutes of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray, but even with that plan, the Hawks’ offense often goes cold when the second unit takes the floor.
The Hawks’ bench scores 5.3 and 9.4 points per game in the first and second quarters. But the team ranks among the top of the league in points per game in that time frame with Young and Murray on the floor.
Atlanta wants to keep as many options open as possible. Now that the roster is close to healthy, coach Nate McMillan said he wants to mix in more of the starters with the bench.
“Our second unit has been good at times this season,” McMillan said. “And then just like everybody else, the first and the second unit, you’re going to have some nights where it’s difficult to score. Part of what I was just explaining was trying to build our second unit – now or at the time – that we had a healthy roster and getting some of our starters in with that second unit now that we have Bogi back. We can get DJ with our second unit, and then I can rotate John (Collins) or De’Andre (Hunter) at the four with our second unit, and it gives us, I feel like, a unit with another option, a little bit more experience.”
The Hawks are 12-7 when they begin games with all five starters, and they’re 13-9 with Young, Murray, Hunter and Collins in the fold.
They will, of course, need to continue finding ways to get more production from their bench. They have already seen some gains with Bogdanovic in the fold, and they’ve already struck gold with rookie AJ Griffin.
Hawks big man Clint Capela has been dealing with a right calf injury and was limited to rehab during Monday’s practice. Capela was ruled out of Tuesday’s game against the host Pacers. In addition to Capela, Hunter briefly left Friday’s game with an ankle sprain, so the team is monitoring that.
The Hawks are one-half game outside the top six teams in the Eastern Conference. Though they have an outlook of “one game at a time,” the Hawks understand the importance of closing out the year on the right note.
Atlanta has three more games before it rings in 2023, and winning them will set up the right rhythm for January.
“It’s been a tough 2 ½ months,” McMillan said. “But, we’re still in the race, and we got a lot of race left. So, praying that we can get healthy and we can build that rhythm and start to play some good basketball here at the end of this month and certainly going into January because I think it’s important, and January’s the time that I see teams with their rhythm.
“You’re really starting to look at the standings and the race for all the teams that have been put together with new players. You should have a better rhythm and a better feel for each other.”
On Tuesday, the Hawks face the Pacers (17-16), who are also within a half-game of the top six. With little room for any slides, Young said the urgency to make the push in the right direction is there.
“I think we just got to go out and play and try our best to win these games,” Young said. “I think the urgency is there. Obviously, we want everybody out there healthy with Clint and Dre ... I hope we get them back sooner than later so we can get everybody back healthy. And that’ll help.
“You see last game what we got whenever we have everybody healthy. We have some guys come off the bench who can score and can take and win games for us, too. So I think that’s the good part about having everybody healthy is that we have a starting lineup and guys come on the bench that can take over games, too. So that’s big for us.”
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