The Hawks picked up a win before the holidays, downing the Timberwolves 117-104 on Monday at State Farm Arena.
Here are five observations.
1. The Hawks needed shooting, especially without Bogdan Bogdanovic missing the night with a left lower leg contusion. So they turned to Garrison Mathews, who played his first significant minutes since Dec. 8. Mathews gave the Hawks everything, including perfect shooting in his first 12 minutes of action.
He made all five of his baskets in the first half, all of which came from 3 to become the seventh player in franchise history in the play-by-play era to finish any half with at least 15 points on a perfect shooting from deep.
“That’s nothing new for me,” Mathews, who finished with 25 points, two rebounds, one assist and two steals, said. “This is my sixth year in the league, I’ve seen everything. I’ve started. I’ve not played. I’ve played little minutes, played a lot of minutes. We got a lot of great player development coaches, Ashton (Gibbs) in particular, who worked with me. He’s done great in helping me stay ready. So it’s a testament to him.”
But he engineered a buzzer-beater at the end of the third quarter with a 90-foot pass from the baseline to Jalen Johnson on the other end. Johnson converted the pass with a layup.
2. After missing the team’s loss to the Grizzlies on Saturday, guard Trae Young returned to the lineup and immediately showed why the Hawks need him. He scored 10 points in the first four minutes of the game. Young drove into the paint and hit a jumper in the paint before firing a 3, then hit a baseline midrange jumper then another 3.
Young’s early scoring outburst helped the Hawks to get out on a 14-4 that was eventually extended to a 33-19 lead by the end of the first quarter. He finished with 29 points and seven assists.
Young made 57.1% of his three-point attempts in the game, the third straight in which he has shot over 50 percent from deep.
“I mean, we had a really good first quarter,” Young said. “I think a lot of it had a lot of us felt some type of way after last game and how it ended. So we wanted to come out with a different energy, different attitude. I feel like we did, and that first quarter kind of set the tone.”
Following the game, Young and his wife Shelby, handed out holiday notes and Jordan Brand swag to some of the part-time workers at State Farm Arena.
3. Dyson Daniels - the Great Barrier Thief - struck again picking off a career-high eight steals, with the eighth one putting an exclamation mark on the night with a dunk from Johnson. Daniels’ eight steals are the most in a single game in the NBA since Oct. 25, 2021 (Paul George). He’s just two away from tying the franchise record (10, Mookie Blaylock, April 14, 1998).
“It’s just about reading the game, knowing when the ball is going to go and then hacking,” said Daniels, who received his award as NBA defensive player of the month for November before the game. “I just be hacking.”
But Daniels really helped to spoil the homecoming of Timberwolves guard and Atlanta native Anthony Edwards. Daniels made Edwards’ life tough helping to hold the 23-year-old guard to 7-of-20 overall shooting. Edwards made just one of his seven 3-point attempts.
Daniels also finished the night with 10 points, four rebounds, four assists and two blocks.
4. The Hawks came out with far more energy than their last outing against the Grizzlies on Saturday. The Hawks held the Timberwolves to just nine minutes for the first 10 minutes of Monday’s game, stifling them in their looks at the rim.
They allowed just 19 points in the fourth quarter.
5. Hawks center Clint Capela has had his hands full going up against some of the league’s biggest and agile centers. Over the last six games, Capela has had to face Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic, Knicks’ Karl-Anthony Towns, Bucks’ Brook Lopez, Spurs’ Victor Wembanyama, Grizzlies’ Zach Edey and now Timberwolves’ Rudy Gobert.
All six opposing centers stand in over 7 feet and Capela has given the Hawks everything.
Against Gobert on Monday, Capela held the reigning Defensive Player of the Year to just 1-of-4 shooting, while finishing the night with eight rebounds, two assists and one steal.
Stat to know
The Hawks are 2-1 in this year’s City Edition uniform.
Quotable
“I didn’t know he had that in his bag like that. That was a great pass, though good recognition by him.” -- Jalen Johnson on Garrison Mathews’ full-court pass.
Up Next
The Hawks host the Bulls on Thursday night for the penultimate meeting between the two teams of the season.
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