Atlanta Hawks season has gotten off to a rocky start after the team dropped their home opener against their Eastern Conference rivals, New York Knicks.
From the onset, the Hawks failed to match to energy and physicality of the Knicks which opened a double-digit lead early in the game. Led by Jalen Brunson who hit eight three-pointers, the Knicks were able to keep the Hawks at a distance until a late 4th quarter run.
The Hawks’ run would come after a resurgence of play by De’Andre Hunter who led the Hawks with 27 points. Jalen Johnson also provided a spark off the bench with multiple high-flying dunks that kept the Atlanta crowd engaged.
However, the Hawks star backcourt of Trae Young and Dejounte Murray struggled for the second game in a row, both combining to shoot 12-33 from the field.
In the waning seconds, the Knicks would turn the ball over to give the Hawks and opportunity to tie the game. But multiple misses from the free throw line and close range would seal the victory for the Knicks.
“It’s our lack of execution in a lot of different situations,” Hawks coach Quinn Snyder said. “Things that I know, we’ve talked about we’ve worked on. We’ve got to be more focused in the course of a game and we got to communicate to one another in order to do those things. We put ourselves in position where we have a chance to win, but we made too many mistakes relative to the execution.”
Trae Young said the team must learn to correct those mistakes during the post game press conference.
“They play physical and you gotta match their physicality,” Young said. “They hit a lot of open shots. It’s just a game we’re gonna have to learn from and we will be better.”
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