The Hawks split their season series with the Suns after defeating them 122-117 on Tuesday night at State Farm Arena.
Here are five observations:
1. On a night when the Hawks played without two of their three best players, their top guard delivered despite the team listing him as questionable with an illness. Trae Young made up for a bulk of the scoring that would have come from the Hawks’ top wings in Jalen Johnson (right shoulder inflammation) and De’Andre Hunter (left foot soreness).
“I can’t just ask everybody else to give a little bit more when guys are out and not expect myself to do more, not want that for myself,” Young said. “So that’s something that, I mean, I take on myself too, but we all, we all play a big fact and give it a little bit more whenever those guys are out.”
Young scored a season-high 43 points, dished five assists and had three steals in Tuesday night’s game. He scored 20 of those points in the first half, hitting four 3-pointers, one of which came from the logo with just under nine minutes to play.
“I wasn’t feeling really well yesterday, still this morning, but I was able to get some more rest being in the bed all day, so maybe that helped a little bit,” Young said. “But I don’t think that’s a key of success for sure.”
2. Like the Hawks needed Young, center Onyeka Okongwu provided them with a huge lift off the bench. Okongwu found an advantageous matchup and attacked the basket. He scored 10 points in the second quarter, making all but one of his five field-goal attempts.
“I just got to be aggressive,” Okongwu said. “No matter who’s out there. I started to be able to find my shot. I don’t really fear anybody on defense.”
Okongwu finished the night with 22 points and 21 rebounds.
3. Suns forward Kevin Durant almost put up a perfect third quarter when he went 6-of-6 from the floor. Durant punished Hawks rookie Zaccharie Risacher in the second half.
The future Hall of Famer posted up the rookie before hitting a turnaround fadeaway jumper. Durant would also bait Hawks defenders into contact on his shoulder or forearms when he rose up for jumpers.
“When KD is doing that, he makes it hard,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “There’s that stretch there, where you end up having a double team. And he’s seen every type of double team that’s been conceived of.”
4. The Hawks needed everyone to step up with only 10 players available due to injuries. So, it opened extensive minutes for Vit Krejci, who gave the Hawks a strong night on both ends of the floor, scoring 15 points, grabbing five rebounds, dished six assists and had two steals.
With Risacher in foul trouble, the Hawks switched Krejci onto Durant as the primary defender. Krejci forced Durant to miss a shot to spoil his perfect third quarter.
“With KD, obviously, he’s gonna be able to make some tough shots over you,” Krejci said. “So for me, it was just trying to be physical and just push him off his spots and try to just get the best contest I can.”
5. The Hawks had another big outing from Garrison Mathews, who hit key shots down the stretch to give the Hawks separation. Mathews followed up a 3 from Krejci that put the Hawks up 114-104 with three minutes to play.
Krejci had hustled for the rebound after a Young missed a 3 and tapped the ball away from Suns defenders to find Mathews for the shot. It provided another reminder of the Hawks outmuscling the Suns on the glass to gain extra opportunities.
“I think in that competitive endurance, where you don’t just compete on one play or two plays, you just continue to compete, and that’s what you do,” Snyder said. “And when you do that, good things happen, not always, but a lot of times.”
It capped off a momentum swing where the Hawks went on a 10-1 that they never really let go of.
Stat to know
11 -- The Hawks have won 11 straight home games against the Suns.
Quotable
“I’m not going to get 12 every night, maybe. Some nights I’ll have 20 and some nights I’ll have five and that’s perfectly fine as long as we get the win at the end of the day.” -- Trae Young on his assists
Up next
The Hawks return to action on Wednesday when they head to Chicago to face the Bulls for the last time this season.
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