Voltar
After a disheartening win on Monday (yes, those kinds of wins exist), the Atlanta Hawks went to Washington D.C., to face former point guard Trae Young. They were doing so without a host of players, most notably Jalen Johnson, but they were able to get their second straight win tonight, beating the Wizards 120-105.
Let's get into the biggest takeaways from this game.
Coming into the night, Dyson Daniels had five straight games where he did not reach double digits in scoring, and he was not able to break that streak tonight. He did, however, have a really strong all-around game and was arguably the best player on the court for Atlanta tonight.
Tonight, Daniels finished with eight points, eight assists, and 17 rebounds, which is the most ever for a Hawks guard. He was a +21 in his 34 minutes on the court, and it shows how impactful he can be on both ends when he can shoot 4-for-13 from the field, including 0-for-4 from three and still be a big factor on the floor. After a string of poor performances on the offensive end, Daniels made his presence felt tonight.
In a bit of a surprising move tonight, Atlanta head coach Quin Snyder opted to start rookie Kingston Flemings in place of CJ McCollum, and it was a fairly strong performance for the No. 8 overall pick. Flemings finished with 14 points, four assists, and three rebounds, shooting 6-for-9 from the field and nailing both of his three-point attempts.
One thing that has been true about Flemings since his first action in Summer League and is still true today is how composed Flemings looks every time that he is on the court. He finds the open man consistently and sets his teammates up well to score. He has been very encouraging when on the court and this was a nice night.
It was not just Flemings, though. With both Jalen Johnson and Jock Landale out for this game, Zuby Ejiofor was the team's backup center, and he had the best game of his young career tonight. He finished with 11 points, three rebounds, two assists, and two steals. He was a +18 in his minutes, and you could see the physicality and toughness that he plays with.
One strong performance does not guarantee you minutes, but this was a nice night for Ejiofor.
I was not expecting the Hawks to win the rebounding battle tonight, considering that their starting power forward and backup center missed tonight's game, and Asa Newell went down with an injury tonight and did not return. They were facing a team that has Anthony Davis and Alex Sarr on it and were able to win the rebounding battle 57-41 tonight.
Atlanta had 10 more offensive rebounds than the Wizards did tonight and considering the Hawks made 13 more threes than the Wizards did tonight and had 13 more overall shot attempts, this was what swung the game in the Hawks favor.
McCollum's move to the bench was a move that many thought would be coming down the line and he responded well tonight, scoring 15 points, grabbing five rebounds, and dishing out five assists. He did not shoot particularly well, but he was strong in this role tonight, which he reportedly asked for.
Wiggins had a really down night against the Pacers, but he came back roaring tonight. He also had 15 points and shot 3-for-7 from three.
This has a chance to be a really strong duo off the bench and tonight showed why.