The Atlanta Hawks (12-17) have tried to change course in this showdown with the Denver Nuggets and move on an upswing this season, after losing five of their last six games and eight of their last ten games. . The Nuggets also sought consistent results to beat them among the elite in the Western Conference, at 16-13 and winners of four of their last six.
The Hawks were still without the services of De’Andre Hunter, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Rajon Rondo and Kris Dunn due to long-term injuries. The visiting Nuggets also did not go completely well tonight, including Paul Millsap, Gary Harris and JaMychal Green.
Nate McMillan continued to coach the team in an interim role, while Lloyd Pierce tended to have the birth of his second child with his wife.
The home team started cold and missed five of their first six shots. Meanwhile, Michael Porter Jr. and Jamal Murray on Saturday night from a historic 50-point, no-free throw attempt, helped to drop Denver at will and drive the Nuggets to a 12-7 lead on 5-of-7 shooting. at the first countdown.
Veral Porter Jr. boiled to 10 points in the first quarter on a perfect 4-for-4 shot before leaving for the bench after making two errors. The Hawks leaked points, allowing the Nuggets to get 33 points off the floor at 13-for-20 (68.4%) and 4-out-7 (57.1%) from three.
Trae Young has a clever steal and helps save Kevin Huerter for a triple early essay, as seen below.
Onyeka Okongwu, number 6, came alive and selected in the first half and rolled to the basket. That along with an impressive defensive play was a boon for the home side in the first half.
Atlanta completely wiped out an early nine-point gap to take a 37-33 lead at some point in the second quarter behind a hot shot from unlikely source Tony Snell, who started 3-for-3 from behind the arc has.
This improved game of role contributors, in addition to better defensive pressure and skin protection, helped the Nuggets cool down in the second quarter. In the first half of 2021, Nikola Jokic, the All Star starter, was not a factor; he only scored the six-minute mark in the second quarter and scored three times to just one assist.
Young repeatedly used flawed transition defense to point his driver and long passes to dunkers who were on the floor, such as this one to John Collins, who had to go to the bench a bit after falling hard on his side .
Atlanta led 64-56 at halftime behind 11 points and 8 assists from Young, though the young guard was hit with a technical foul when he was on his way down the tunnel to jaw an officer. As a team, the Hawks shot 15-of-22 (68.2%) from the field in the second quarter and 4-of-8 (50%) from three for a dazzling 77.2 eFG%.
Young stopped where he left off in the third quarter, whether he scored the first eight field goals or helped for a total of 19 points to increase the lead to 17 – the biggest for both teams in the game up to that point. . And the Hawks did not stop from there, as Young continued to throw in points from deep in the third quarter, scoring 14 points and five assists.
Clint Capela was still effective in rounding lobbies, with 16 points on 7-of-8 shooting through three quarters. While the Nuggets still struggled to find the basket, the Falcons led 93-76 in quarter number four, after leading 22 points at one point.
Murray and Monte Morris, however, did not want the Nuggets to sink, and with four field goals and ten points within two minutes, Coach McMillan was forced to call a time-out to gather the troops with the lead after 13.
Still, Atlanta clawed and scratched and kept Denver at arm’s length with a few stoppers. The Nuggets could not buy a field goal until 3:51 in the fourth quarter since the 8:19 minute mark – a team of about four and a half minutes that severely hampered all hopes of hitting the game again.
Collins had a restful night but showed the ability to hit shots from the dribble to the basket.
For the second time in three games, an opponent used a Hack-a-Capela strategy at the point of a match, but Capela responded by hitting his first two release attempts in that situation.
A trio of late Facundo Campazzo triple brought the lead to one point in the singles figures, and a Jokic rainbow try brought the lead down to 7 at the last minute, but it was too little for the Nuggets on the second evening of a back to back.
Young nearly surpassed his season-high 16 assists with 15 shares and added 35 points on just 19 shots for 1.84 points per shot. As a team, the Falcons shared the ball well and helped with 29 of 42 (69%) field goals.
Both John Collins and Clint Capela scored a double-double, with another solid 20-and-10 performance from the middle. The Hawks calmly drained their late free throws to ice the game – with 26 of 32 (81.3%) from the charity streak – to win 123 to 115.