Hawks fall to the Kings

The Atlanta Hawks returned home to State Farm Arena on Friday December 29. for the last home game of 2023 to take on the Sacramento Kings.

Game Recap

The Hawks came out fighting hard leading the Kings 18-6 midway through the 1st quarter. Kings pace heightened allowing a strong defensive effort. Slowly the scoring gap begin to shrink with the Hawks leading by 13 points at the end of the first period.

At the half the Hawks gained momentum with a pair of threes scored by Jalen Johnson and Saddiq Bey. Dejounte Murray poured in 16 points to help put the lead at 71-53.

Reminiscent of the Atlanta Hawks games of the past, the team maintained the lead in the first half but failed to execute in second. Which  some would consider another tale of two halves which was marked and often quoted by former exiled head coach Lloyd Pierce. Unfortunately for the Hawks these words seem to ring true even two coaches later. From my observation the Hawks often allow their opponent to clammer their way back within singular digits when it comes down to the wire. This matchup was no different. Six minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter the Kings bench came alive to trail only by 7 points. Even with Trae downing 2 free throws to put the lead at 89-78 (2:19), the Kings slowly gained momentum behind Davion Mitchell 2 pointer. At the end of the 3rd the Hawks led 91-86.

In the 4th crunch time begin with an extensive offensive effort from the Kings. With 6:45 mins left in the final period Sacramento took a timeout. The Kings came back full blast narrowing the scoring gap to 5 points (105-100)leaving the Hawks barely holding on to the lead. Sacramento scored again to take a 1 point lead with De’Aron Fox 2-point shot(106-105). Ice Trae landed a two point jumpshot to put the Hawks up by 1. Young landed a free throw to extend the lead by 2 (110-108). With only 3 minutes left Kings Malik Monk scored in the paint to tie the game 110-110 .  Chris Duarte 3 pointer stretched the lead to 113-110. In the end the Hawks defense looked exhausted.  A comeback win was far from reach. In the finals seconds Atlanta rode out the clock as the Kings walked away with a 110-117 win.

Trae Young led the team in scoring 24 points, DJ added 18, Jalen Johnson put down 16 points, Saddiq Bey collected 15 points while Clint Capela rounded off the scoring efforts with 12 points.

“We got to communicate with each other to get the execution.”said Head Coach Snyder.

Atlanta will wrap up the 2023 year taking on the Wizards on  12/31 at Washington. Following the club’s New Year’s Eve contest on the road, the Hawks will play 15 of their next 23 games inside the friendly confines of State Farm Arena, including 10 home games during the month of January.