The Hawks hadn’t played a game in six days, and they had some rustiness to shake off in Monday’s exhibition game against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Despite jumping to an 11-3 lead early, the Hawks offense stuttered, and the 76ers erased the eight-point lead on their way to a 104-89 victory. The 76ers eventually went on a five-minute, 17-6 run as the Hawks’ shooting languished. The Hawks shot 9.1% (1-of-11) on 3-pointers during that stretch despite the constant ball movement that generated open looks.
For example, with 6:49 to play in the first quarter, Hawks guard Kobe Bufkin took an inbound pass from De’Andre Hunter before letting off a quick pass to Bogdan Bogdanovic at the top of the key. He then set a screen and curled back to the wing where he was wide open, where Bogdanovic flipped the ball to him. The shot hit back iron.
A little over five minutes later, the Hawks pushed the ball up after a live rebound from the 76ers. Guard Trae Young hit Bogdanovic on the wing with a behind-the-back pass, but that shot fell short.
“I thought we did get some good looks,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “I also thought there were times when we didn’t make quick enough decisions, particularly against this team. They’re aggressive, physical, defensively. They really try to dictate (the game). The ball stops, you just allow that to happen. The ball moves and we move, the game is a lot easier.
“So, some of that, yeah, we had some good possessions, but it also had some, some not-so-good possessions. It will be good for us to look and see what did the game look like when you did generate some of those open shots, whether and made them or not. There were plenty of times where that didn’t, happen.”
But the Hawks didn’t just struggle on long shots in the loss to the 76ers, who were without All-Star center Joel Embiid. They struggled at the rim, as they bobbled lobs and alley-oops that seemed to come naturally almost a week ago. The Hawks missed 20 of their shot attempts when they struggled to connect at the rim.
“I mean, it’s a lot of things,” said Young, who scored 10 points and had nine assists. “A lot of it’s me being too unselfish. I think sometimes I can, I can shoot the floater, because if the big knows I want to get a lob or get my teammate involved. So, there’s times that people probably see Clint (Capela) come in, like, yell at me to shoot the floater and to be aggressive.”
The Hawks ended Monday’s exhibition game having made only 37.2% of their overall 94 attempts. They shot 29.5% from 3.
The team continued to see good things from rookie Zaccharie Risacher, who followed his exhibition debut with 14 points, eight rebounds and had one steal. While Risacher did not flash as much as in Tuesday’s exhibition against the Indiana Pacers, he remained poised against the more physical 76ers defense.
With 7:39 to play in the third quarter, Risacher went to finish a transition layup after steal from Young. As he went up, 76ers wing Caleb Martin looked to complete a chase-down block, but sent the rookie to the floor on the follow-through.
Risacher took a minute to stretch his leg and catch his breath, he got up with some help from teammates. He then sank a pair of free throws.
“I think that also he’s got a quiet toughness to him, for a 19-year-old kid or young man, I should say,” Snyder said. “There’s a determination that he has. If you watch him you see that come out. He’s not always successful, but he’s competing. And seeing him compete is something that it’s been good to watch.
“He lets the game come to him. There’s always kind of a tendency to try to impose yourself on the game to a certain degree. That’s not, bad, but he’s making the right plays and making good decisions. As I mentioned, I think the work ethic that that he has that breeds that toughness. Because when you put that much into something you come into it.”
The Hawks will wrap up their exhibition season on the road with back-to-back games. They face the Miami Heat on Wednesday, then head west to face the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday.
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