Hawks center Onyeka Okongwu summed up the team’s attitude this season following its win over the Suns last Tuesday. Fear no one.
“I just got to be aggressive,” Okongwu said last Tuesday. “No matter who’s out there. I started to be able to find my shot. I don’t really fear anybody on defense. I just got to be able to go up strong, be aggressive. I work so hard on my game. So, I just believe in my instincts and believe in what I do on both ends of the floor.”
Okongwu’s and the Hawks' fearlessness has led them to one of their best starts to a season through 41 games since the 2016-17 season. That year, the Hawks sat fourth in the Eastern Conference by Jan. 19 with a 24-18 record.
This current Hawks team now ranks sixth after moving to 22-19 after downing the Celtics on Saturday night. They had just a 9.7% chance to win, with 20.1 seconds to play in regulation. The Hawks trailed the Celtics 103-100 after overcoming a 10-point deficit with 10 minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
The Hawks forced overtime after stopping a Jayson Tatum midrange jumper with one second left on the clock.
But the Hawks’ 119-115 win over the Celtics, who were on the second of back-to-back games is just another indicator that this year’s team is different. This team is far from the one that struggled to take care of leads a season ago.
This season, the Hawks have lost just five games by 20 or more points. Last season, they had double that, including a 42-point loss to the Pacers.
The Hawks are currently 6-1 against the top three teams in the Eastern Conference this season with a 2-0 record over the Cavaliers, a 2-1 record over the Celtics and a 2-0 record against the Knicks (who they face on Monday).
“Yeah, I don’t want to make it about Boston,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder told reporters in Boston Saturday. “They’re the World Champs and they didn’t have a great shooting night. I think for our group, the ebb and flow of the game, for us to be up, and then they went on a run, and for us to respond to that, to respond after a really rough first quarter. They’re a terrific team, and I think we did the things we needed to do to win the game.
“I’m not taking anything away from our guys, but I just want us to keep him better. Every game is different. Neither team shot well. It was a gritty game, and it’s good to have Jalen (Johnson) back. His presence in the game doesn’t matter if he’s scoring. There’s different ways to impact the game. And I was impressed with, as the game went on, the things that he did.
“I can’t say enough about O (Onyeka Okongwu), the two big rebounds that he came up with. A lot of really good efforts. I thought Dyson’s (Daniels) aggressiveness offensively gave us a lot. And Trae didn’t have a great shooting night, but he kept shooting... That man made a big difference... So again, Hunt (De’Andre Hunter) was aggressive. We just had a lot of really good efforts. I thought, Vit (Krejci) played a really good game too. I guess that’s the real answer to your question. We just had a team effort, which is what it takes to compete against a team of Boston’s caliber.”
It’s all a part of the program that Snyder and the Hawks front office have worked to build. The Hawks received some gratification that what they’re building between their G League affiliate and the main club is working.
Last Wednesday, the Hawks played the Bulls without six key rotational players. So, they called up their three two-way players from the College Park Skyhawks to fill their roster needs.
They rolled out a starting lineup that included Keaton Wallace, Daniels, Krejci, David Roddy and Clint Capela against the Bulls' usual starters. Then they brought Daeqwon Plowden (in his NBA debut) off the bench.
They handily beat the Bulls 110-94.
Then the two teams did something that has not been done since 2018 (which is as far back as Elias Sports can confirm affiliations).
The Hawks beat Celtics in overtime and the College Park Skyhawks beat the Maine Celtics 112-109 in overtime is the first time an NBA team and its affiliate won in overtime on the same day against the same NBA team and its affiliate.
But the Hawks are just at the halfway mark, have nine games before the trade deadline (Feb. 6) and have 14 games remaining until they reach the All-Star Break.
“Your hope is when you find adversity in the game, because it comes in a lot of different forms that that can bring you together and you can raise your level, as opposed to it splitting you apart,” Snyder told reporters. “I think that’s what was on that.”
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