It’s hard to know which Hawks you will get from night to night, and Tuesday night was no exception. The Hawks dropped a toughie to the visiting Trail Blazers, 127-113.
Atlanta (36-39) currently sits in a tie for seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings, right there with Orlando. The Hawks and Magic meet twice in these final 12 days of the regular season.
As for the loss Tuesday, the Blazers played a physical brand of basketball that took the Hawks out of their normal flow. Portland is 12th in the West and has virtually no shot of reaching the postseason.
But that has rarely mattered to these Blazers. They play hard and smart and don’t appear to care about records or the standings. The Hawks, however, do. They’re in the postseason. Most likely the play-in. So they should care.
“I just think we played too slow,” said guard Trae Young, who finished with 29 points, 15 assists and two steals, via Lauren Williams of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I think you gotta give them credit. They kind of slowed us down by picking me up full and not letting us get out in transition. Anytime we played fast, we were able to score easy.”
Meanwhile, guard Dyson Daniels gave credit to the Blazers.
“There’s no easy games in the NBA today,” Daniels said. “Even coming up against a team that has got a lot of injuries, guys step up and make plays, and they’re hard to beat. This is a really good team. They’re really well coached. They’re really big. They play fast. There’s no coming into a game that you can take the foot off the pedal. You know you need to come with the right mindset, no matter who you’re playing every game.”
Atlanta’s loss clinched a playoff spot for the idle Indiana Pacers.
Looking for the latest NBA Insider News & Rumors?
Be sure to follow Hoops Wire on TWITTER and FACEBOOK for breaking NBA News and Rumors for all 30 teams!
