Reeling Hawks drop seventh straight game

1. Hawks rookie Zaccharie Risacher looked unstoppable in the second quarter as he injected energy into the rotation. Risacher hustled on both ends of the floor and he used his defense to generate offense.

“I feel like when we’re playing the transition game, we’re really good at it,” Risacher said. “We got to make more stops defensively so we can run the floor. The key is really defensively. When we make a stop, when we’re in a good spot (to stop) the drive, in a good rotation, then we can run the floor, play a good transition game. I feel like that’s our game. That’s our identity, and we didn’t do enough of this tonight.”

Risacher scored 14 of his 20 first-half points in the second frame, making all five of his overall field goals. He put his head down and attacked the rim, drawing fouls from the Cavaliers who tried to stop him.

He finished three points shy of his career-high with 30 points.

2. The rookie had a presence on the defensive end thanks to his hustle and willingness to take up space.

Risacher moved his feet, keeping the likes of Darius Garland or Max Strus in front him.

With 3:46 to play in the second quarter, Risacher moved his feet as Strus looked to attack and cut off his drive to the basket. When Strus spun to avoid Risacher, he lost the ball and the rookie dove to the floor to recover it. It allowed the Hawks to leak out and Onyeka Okongwu split a pair of free throws.

“I think there’s a level of pride that Zach has in (his defense),” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said.

3. The Hawks just did not get much scoring out of their bench outside of De’Andre Hunter. The Hawks’ sixth man put up his 18th 20-plus points game of the season to tie Jamal Crawford.

Hunter attacked the basket and used the Cavaliers’ physical defense to his advantage. Early in the game, it helped to keep the Hawks within spitting distance of the Cavs. He finished with 25 points and a career-high 12 free throws.

4. Hunter provided as much scoring for the Hawks’ second unit but the rest of the bench couldn’t find the bottom of the net. It highlighted how much the Hawks miss the presence of Bogdan Bogdanovic and Clint Capela, who did not travel with the team.

Outside of Hunter, the Hawks’ bench went 4-of-16 from the floor and scored just 12 points.

The entire bench unit went 4-of-20 from deep. But Snyder thinks the team could have done more to generate some high-probability shots from deep had the team kept their eyes out.

“When we have somebody open, we really want to have our eyes out and find those guys, no matter who it is,” Snyder said. “And I think there’s plenty of possessions where we see that happen, and they’re really connected possessions. And when that’s not there, we said that the rim will reveal itself.”

The Hawks will need even more out of their second unit without Jalen Johnson in the rotation. The Hawks forward accounted for just under 19 points a game for the team and they’ll need to find somewhere for that scoring to come from.

5. Trae Young dished his 500th assist of the season with 6:51 to play in Thursday’s game. Young’s 500-plus assists across his first seven seasons made him the fifth player in NBA history to do so. He follows in the footsteps of Oscar Robertson, Isiah Thomas, Norm Nixon and Tim Hardaway.

Young, who scored 15 points, had 10 assists and one steal. He played shortly after learning that he would not make it to the All-Star game this year.

Stat to know

5 - The Hawks rolled out their youngest starting lineup since Dec. 12, 2022 when they started Trae Young, Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher, Mouhamed Gueye and Onyeka Okongwu.

Quotable

“I was trying to get some rhythm on defense and we had good stuff. And I feel like in that second quarter, we was able to run little bit more, and that’s where I found my rhythm.” - Risacher on what worked for him to compile a perfect second quarter.

Up next

The Hawks continue their road trip, facing the Pacers on Saturday at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse