Why Quin Snyder believes Hawks can’t ‘flush’ Celtics’ 52-point quarter

ATLANTA, GA – All halves are not created the same in the game of basketball, but there could be patterns of how the results happened. In two of the last three games for the Atlanta Hawks, they’ve given up 80 points in the first half. The first was against the Los Angeles Lakers, where Luka Doncic, Jake LaRavia, and Gabe Vincent could barely miss a three-pointer in the first half.

The Hawks had a repeat of the same result in their loss to the Boston Celtics, but it was Sam Hauser who did all the work from the three-point line, as he knocked down seven of his eight attempts before halftime. When you looked up at the scoreboard, the Hawks were down 82-51.

The Celtics had 52 points in the second quarter alone.

While everything seemed to be working out well for the road team, it was a struggle for the Hawks. They couldn’t get any shots to fall. The rotations were a step slow, which led to wide-open three-pointers for Hauser. Even when the Hawks did everything right, the Celtics were still hitting shots over their defenders.

“We can’t give up a 52-point quarter,” head coach Quin Snyder said after the game. “That may be all I should say. Our competitive focus on the defensive end during that stretch in particular is not where it needs to go, and that results in all kinds of breakdowns and executions, and they made us pay for that. I think it’s important for us to understand that this is a process to the extent that we’re really focused on the things that I think we know when we do make us successful.

“Some games you say flush it. You flush it when a game is in a way watching it and trying to understand it may not have an impact on you improving. I don’t think this is one of those games. We need to understand why it happened, and that’s part of where we are.”

Hawks give up another 80 points in a half

As for the players, they know they have to do a better job at locking in on defense to avoid giving up a lot of points in a short amount of time.

“They were too comfortable; we have to be more physical at the point of contact,” CJ McCollum said. “Getting close outs to touch guys. They got offensive rebounds, they got points in transition, a lot of threes, and once they get going, it’s an avalanche. 

“We have to do a better job of passing ahead, trying to get the kick aheads across the court, and take advantage of transition opportunities. I don’t think we got a lot of stops early in the game. The better our defense is, the better our offense will be.”

There’s not one stat that seems to pop out that made the biggest difference in the game for the Hawks, just that the Celtics were super efficient from the field. When actually looking at how it played out, it’s obvious the team has some things working against them. They’re still implementing new players to the team, and truly haven’t had the chance to after coming off a West Coast road trip.

The Hawks also haven’t practiced much since the start of the year because of their schedule. At the same time, the team knows that they need to play better than they did against the Celtics and the past two losses that they’ve suffered.

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