Hawks unable to withstand Nuggets’ hot shooting

1. The Nuggets feasted no matter where they took their shots and no matter how difficult the shot. They got friendly bounces on 3-point shots that hit the front of the rim, like Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s with 7:09 to play in the third. They hit Hail Mary triples with the shot clock winding down, like former Hawks forward Justin Holiday did with 6:44 to play in the game.

The Nuggets made 58% of their shots at the rim, 75% of their mid-range attempts, 54% of their jumpers at the top of the key and 70% of their 3s from either corner. They ended the night 23-of-41 from deep. It’s a season-high in 3-pointers made for the Nuggets.

“But again defensively, there’s some breakdowns that you just can’t afford to have,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “Someone comes off a screen and handoff and you’re behind them and you have to switch that in an emergency situation and get a contest and (Michael) Porter might still make it but he’ll make it less frequently. And that still might not be enough if you don’t do some of those other things in a breakdown situation.”

2. Caldwell-Pope gave the Nuggets a huge lift from deep, knocking down 6-of-9 shots from 3. He rarely, if ever, hesitated when his teammates swung the ball his way.

“I think I don’t think they felt us enough defensively,” Snyder said. “When they shoot it that well. They still may shoot it at a high clip, maybe it’s 45 but not at 57, 58 or whatever, I know it was close to 50 at the three-minute mark. So they’ve just got to feel this more. There’s got to be more aggression.”

This season, 50% of Caldwell-Pope’s shot attempts have come from 3-point range, with 20% of them coming on corner 3s. On Saturday, he made 66% of his corner 3s, knocking down both of his attempts in the right corner.

The former Georgia Bulldog scored 24 points to lead the Nuggets, all while keeping the game out of reach with his jumpers. With 34.2 seconds to play in the first half, the Hawks got the game back within 10 after De’Andre Hunter hit a 3 but Caldwell-Pope nailed a jumper that kept the Nuggets up 13.

He did it again in the second half, making a triple with 10:19 to play in the third that pushed the Nuggets’ lead to 14.

3. The Hawks had taken steps forward defensively since they returned from the All-Star break, ranking 15th in the NBA with a defensive rating of 112.8. They’d given up more than 125 points to opponents just three times in that span.

But they allowed 142 to the Nuggets, the second-most they’ve given up since the Pacers scored 157 back in November.

They seemed sluggish, not rotating out to close-outs fast enough or simply giving up second-chance points after turning the ball over after making the initial stop.

4. Hawks rookie forward Mo Gueye made his return to the court after missing much of this season with injuries.

Gueye played the final four minutes of Saturday’s game, going 0-of-3 from the floor and 0-of-2 from 3. But he got a chance to get his legs back under him.

5. With their second straight loss, the Hawks’ pursuit of home-court advantage and the ninth seed in the Eastern Conference looks less and less possible. Saturday’s loss dropped the Hawks to 1 1/2 games behind the Bulls.

Stat to know

3 - The Hawks played in three different time zones over the last four nights. They hosted the Pistons on Wednesday in the Eastern time zone before suiting up in the Central time zone to face the Mavericks. They faced the Nuggets in the Mountain time zone.

Quotable

“Those guys, those are valuable minutes because you have a chance to look at film and see some of the things that they can do and they can learn and grow as much as anything.” Snyder on Mo Gueye’s return.

Up next

The Hawks return to State Farm Arena for their final two home games of the season. They host the Heat on Tuesday and the Hornets on Wednesday.