You miss only one being and yet the Hawks are as if replumped. Without Trae Young, absent for a month and operated on Wednesday, the Atlanta franchise won a second consecutive victory.
Quin Snyder's players found the solution to the absence of their leader: raising their tone defensively in the manner of what their coach proposed on the Jazz side. And it was this same Jazz who paid the price (124-97).
The Hawks did not even need a “one-man show” from Dejounte Murray, clumsy on Wednesday (7/19 shooting, 1/6 from 3-points) to dominate. They took care of it on the other side of the floor with what looks like a benchmark performance. With a ” Defensive Rating » of 88.4 against Jazz, they signed their best match of the season, and one of the twenty best collective performances of the season in this statistical category. Anything but trivial, for one of the worst defenses in the league this season (119.1, 27th).
Second victory under 100 points conceded without Trae Young
“ Our defensive communication has been much better than it has been in the past » confirmed Jalen Johnson, spearhead of his team against Utah (22 points, 13 rebounds, 6 assists). “ We did a really good job executing our defense and sticking to our game plan. It worked well for us, we need to continue that. » For the second game in a row, Atlanta held its opponent to less than 100 points, after dominating Orlando on Sunday 109-92. This, after only achieving this performance once in the first 56 games of the season.
“ We showed character, that’s what made the difference ” reacted at Bally Sports Clint Capela, whose return for three matches is not completely unrelated to this renewed form. “ In the last two games, it was much better on defense. We continue to score 120 points, but being able to keep your opponents under 100 points already gives you an 80% chance of winning. » The Hawks were able to thwart the Jazz, taking advantage of the Salt Lake City team's lost balls and limiting Lauri Markkanen and others to 37% shooting, including 11/38 behind the arc.
“ When we positioned ourselves well, we did a better job of containing the opposing ball carrier, and our interiors contested shots and got rebounds well. » welcomed Quin Snyder, who was returning to his old franchise for the first time. “ The important thing is to play the full length of a possession, and I think we help each other more. »
Kobe Bufkin, the defensive X factor
A perfect illustration of this state of mind finally found in Georgia this season, Kobe Bufkin delivered a remarkable performance, well beyond the statistics sheet (7 points, 5 assists and 2 interceptions in 21 minutes). The rookie takes advantage of Trae Young's absence to get playing time, and his dynamism in defense is contagious.
“ When you have injuries, absences, those are opportunities for another player: Kobe is playing incredibly well for a rookie with a defense like that » encouraged Bogdan Bogdanovic. “ They don't respect him yet in this league, but it's great to play with him and with the guys. He gives us energy, and we just have to follow. »
This dynamic comes at the best time, when we could have feared the worst for the Hawks. The latter will face the Nets at the bottom of the hole in back-to-back Friday and Saturday. The opportunity to push them back definitively in the race for the play-in, while Atlanta is tenth with four victories ahead of Brooklyn and Toronto, one game behind Chicago, ninth.
Defensive rating : to evaluate the defensive efficiency of a franchise, we calculate the number of points conceded over 100 possessions.
