The Atlanta Hawks shredded the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night in their first game back from the All-Star break in a dominating 136-119 win. The victory is the first for newly installed interim head coach Joe Prunty, and it snaps a two-game losing streak for Atlanta in the process.
While the dynamic backcourt of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray will certainly steal the headlines tonight after they poured on a combined 59 points, Jon Chuckery was especially impressed with the play of the Hawks bench. He reacted to the win
"And how about this number," Jon said when discussing the play of the bench in the first half. "In the first half of that game, where they led by as much as 32 points, the four guys that they played off of their bench [were] plus 99 in the first half of that game combined."
Those four players -- AJ Griffin, Onyeka Okongwu, Jalen Johnson, and Bogdan Bogdanovic -- played a total of 51 minutes and only missed a single shot from the field.
Led by this tremendous play from the bench, the Hawks poured on an incredible 81 points in the first half, with 49 of those coming in the second quarter -- both marks are the third best in franchise history.
The offensive eruption helped the Hawks build a 24-point halftime lead against the best defense in the NBA this season. They carried that lead for much of the second half, and it never dropped below 13 points.
The win was critical for a team that had been previously treading water near the bottom of the Eastern Conference playoff standings. The NBA marathon has entered the final stretch, so let the sprint begin.