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The Atlanta Hawks are facing some early-season adversity after losing 129-117 to the Miami Heat, their third straight loss. Atlanta is now 2-3 and needs to get things together quickly, starting with a game tonight against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Hawks had some of the same old issues that have plagued this group for a while pop up again on Wendesday night. They got bullied in the paint, as the Heat won the rebounding battle 52-40 and scored 70 points in the paint. They got the worst game of the season from Jalen Johnson and Dyson Daniels made zero impact on the game.
It is early in the season and there is time to fix these problems, but this team needs to start playing better.
Here are our biggest winners and losers from last night's game.
This was the game that Hawks fans had been waiting on when it comes to Flemings.
After having a tough time scoring in the first four games of the season, Flemings ended up being the best player on the court for Atlanta against Miami. He scored 23 points, had five assists, and five rebounds, as well as a block (on none other than Giannis Antetokounmpo) and one steal.
Flemings also closed the game and earned the trust of Quin Snyder in that moment, though Miami still ended up winning. If he keeps playing like this, it could be time to have a conversation about moving him into the starting lineup, though we are a ways away from that.
For a star player, I have included Johnson in the losers section far too often this season.
Atlanta has to get better nights from Johnson. Last night's performance against Miami was his worst of the season and it is not like he has had many good ones so far.
Johnson was a team worst -23 in his minutes (a game that the Hawks lost by 12) and Atlanta was better when he was off the court. Whether it was poor decision making, poor shooting, or turning the ball over, it was a poor night from the Hawks young forward and he cannot have too many more of these kinds of performances.
It was a stretch to find multiple winners in this game, but Alexander-Walker had a good enough game to warrant some attention.
He finished the game with 23 points on 8-for-18 shooting from the field and 5-for-9 from three to go along with three rebounds and one assist. He scored the ball well enough in this game, but the rest of the lineup around him did not.
It was another forgettable night for Daniels. After his strong first two games of the year, he has put up a pair of duds on both ends.
He had the unenviable task of trying to guard Giannis Antetokounmpo, and that did not work out well for most of the night, but he also did not impact the game on offense. Daniels finished with seven points, seven assists, and four rebounds while shooting 3-for-7 from the field. Daniels is never going to be a dynamite scorer, but he has to find a way to impact the game on that end.
Neither Onyeka Okongwu or Jock Landale was able to have a good night for the Hawks and this position continues to be a sore spot for Atlanta.
Okongwu finished with 11 points and four rebounds, while shooting 1-for-3 from three. While the rebounding issues against Miami and the fact they scored 70 points paint are not all Okongwu's fault, he bears some of the blame, He has been virtually invisible in every game this season and Atlanta needs more from him.
Jock Landale has not been much better, especially when he has been paired with Jalen Johnson. He scored 10 points and had six rebounds last night, but still shot poorly from three.
This is the biggest positional weakness on the Hawks right now and they need more from this group.