SAN ANTONIO -- The Hawks had a lot of slippage on Thursday. After putting up their worst defensive quarter of the season in 16 games, the Hawks fell to the Victor Wembanyama-less Spurs, 135-126.
The Hawks allowed the Spurs to shoot 7-of-11 (63.6%) from 3 in a 46-point second quarter for San Antonio. It tore the game open as the Hawks couldn’t seem to make shooting difficult for the Spurs shooters, like Keldon Johnson, who hit 5-of-6 from the field in that second quarter, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range.
Though the Spurs shooting cooled after halftime, and the Hawks got back in the game, they could not slow the Spurs in transition down the stretch.
“We’ve watched it and talked about it, turnovers, our offense puts us in a tough position,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said.
“We’re giving up buckets. And then your focus goes and whether it’s not getting back or having a breakdown, suddenly those things are compounded, and bam, there’s a 10-0 run, and all the work that you’ve done to come back.”
Quick Stats: Hawks guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker set a new career-high in 3-pointers made (eight) early the third quarter. He finished with a career-high 38 points and five assists. Jalen Johnson had 26 points, 12 rebounds and 7 assists.
Turning point
The Spurs blew the game open in the second quarter, going on a 26-7 run on some lights out shooting.
Despite giving up 46 points to the Spurs in the second quarter, the Hawks went to work in the third quarter forcing the Spurs down to the end of the shot clock on a couple of different plays.
They eventually tied the game at 92 on a Keaton Wallace 3 on a busted play. They took their first lead on an Alexander-Walker finger roll layup with 9:17 to play.
But the Hawks had too much slippage down allowing the Spurs to regain control of the game.
Highlight play
The Hawks haven’t used center Kristaps Porzingis much as a lob partner. But on Thursday, Johnson found Porzingis with a no-looker with 5:47 to play in the third quarter.
Johnson came off a screen from Alexander-Walker before driving in from the elbow. He pulled up and lobbed it up to Porzingis who finished with one hand.
What they said
“Probably space. A lot of times, we get on top of each other, but it’s because of our chaos. So that goes back... all of us understanding when to speed up, slow down, give it a beat, let it breathe.” -- Alexander-Walker on the common thread to the Hawks’ turnovers.
“I think we try. I mean, obviously we know it works. When we do it, it works. It’s just a matter of us sustaining that rhythm and pushing ourselves and having that endurance, like competitive endurance, to just keep doing the same thing and running and getting out.
“And even if it’s not for you, but it’s for your teammate. Those are the sacrifices we have to keep making for us to be really good. And maybe tonight we had some glimpses of not doing that but overall, I can see this group is trying, and we’re working hard, and we want to be a great team.” -- Hawks center Kristaps Porzingis on the team’s effort to run on Thursday.
Up Next
The Hawks head to New Orleans to take on the Pelicans on Saturday on the first night of back-to-back games. The Hawks own the better of the picks between the Pelicans and Bucks following the draft night trade in June.
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