The Atlanta Hawks defeated the Detroit Pistons by a final score of 118-113 in their first road game of the year to improve to 3-1 on the season. Now the Hawks’ 3-1 start is by no means a bad thing, but there are some numbers through the first four games that do raise concerns. Wednesday night on The Jon Chuckery Show, Jon gave you those numbers.
How about 130, 130 is the number of points the Atlanta Hawks have given up in the third quarter in the first four games of the season. Not only have the Hawks given up 130 points in the third quarter this season, but they have been outscored in the third quarter this season 111-130. The Hawks have only won one third quarter so far this season, and that was against the Orlando Magic where they won the third quarter 30-27. Also, in the Hawks’ last two games they have given up 73 points in the third quarter. Wednesday night against the Pistons the Hawks lost the third quarter 28-27. With that being said it’s pretty easy to see why Jon Chuckery started off his show saying “They need to start being better coming out of the second half.”
The offense has been fine as we all knew it would be, but this Hawks defense is supposed to be a lot better with Dejounte Murray in the backcourt, and it has still been shaky at times. This Atlanta Hawks team in the first four games let two young inexperienced teams in the Houston Rockets and the Orlando Magic hang around with them until the fourth quarter, dropped the ball completely on defense in their third game against the Charlotte Hornets and lost a game they really shouldn’t have lost, and was on the ropes in Detroit against a Pistons team that has good pieces but is a team that you are still clearly better than.
Again, no Atlanta Hawks fans should be complaining about a 3-1 start. Trae Young dropped 35 points Wednesday night against the Pistons and looks to be getting in a rhythm, Dejounte Murray is doing it all on both ends of the court just as expected, De’Andre Hunter is looking good and healthy and being aggressive on offense and defense, and John Collins in the young season is averaging 19 points and 10 rebounds and making big plays, including a huge chase down block Wednesday night against the Pistons
This start for the Atlanta Hawks is not bad, but it is also not impressive, and that’s okay. Trae Young and Dejounte Murray are still finding their on-court chemistry, Nate McMillan is still figuring out his rotations, and a team with a fair amount of new pieces is still learning how to play cohesive defense as a unit, so no need to panic Hawks fans, but just know the Atlanta Hawks are far from a finished product right now, and they are 3-1 against three lottery teams and a play-in tournament team. The Atlanta Hawks have their first big test coming up Saturday as they will face the Milwaukee Bucks in Milwaukee