You would be hard-pressed to find a game in the NBA this season with two teams as injury-riddled as both the Hawks and the Grizzlies were tonight.
Memphis has been one of the league's most injured teams all season and was missing several starters and key bench contributors. Atlanta came into tonight without Trae Young, Onyeka Okongwu, Jalen Johnson, and Kobe Bufkin. It was likely going to be a slow offensive night for both teams.
The Hawks had a starting lineup decision to make with Johnson sidelined for the game. Quin Snyder decided to start Vit Krejci tonight alongside Dejounte Murray, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Saddiq Bey, and Clint Capela.
The first quarter was all Memphis.
The Grizzlies came out and played a really physical game to start and were doing most of their scoring in the paint. Because they were so injured, Memphis was going to have to rely heavily on Jaren Jackson Jr tonight on both offense and defense.
The Hawks had a hard time scoring at the start of this game. They trailed Memphis 31-18 after the first quarter and it felt like it was a hard grind to just get to 18 points. The offense has been worse without Young and that continued tonight. Murray had 12 of the Hawks's 18 points, while Memphis was outscoring Atlanta in the paint 16-4.
Atlanta turned things around in the second quarter though.
The Hawks outscored the Grizzlies 26-15 in the quarter. Memphis shot 5-20 in the quarter and it was much better defense from Atlanta. The Hawks went on an 11-2 run to take the lead, but Jaren Jackson Jr hit a shot to tie the game back up at 46 going into the half.
Atlanta shot 41% from the field in the first half and 39% from three. Murray had 21 points for the Hawks, while no other player on Atlanta was in double-digits.
Memphis shot 40% from the field in the first half and 33% from three. Jackson Jr was the only player on the Grizzlies in double-figures with 17 points.
The Hawks started the third quarter on a 9-0 run, but Memphis answered with a 7-0 run to tighten the game back up. The third quarter was the Hawks best offensively. They outscored Memphis 34-26 and Murray kept making big shots, scoring 13 points in the quarter, giving him 34 heading into the 4th.
The fourth quarter was not a great one for either team.
Memphis would outscore Atlanta 20-19 in the quarter and had opportunities to win this game. The biggest difference in this is that the Hawks had Dejounte Murray and the Grizzlies did not.
The Hawks only shot 30% from the field but were 4-8 from three and that was good enough to get a win in what was an ugly basketball between two teams struggling with injuries.
Murray was fantastic in this game, finishing with 41 points, seven rebounds, and six assists on 17-25 shooting. Bogdanovic was the next highest-scoring Hawk with 16 points. Atlanta finished the game shooting 43% from the field and from three.
Snyder had high praise for Murray after the game:
"They started to trap him, then we played pick-and-roll with a small and he got some switches that he wanted. It was a cerebral game, as well as, obviously, a big game, statistically." "His buckets were big buckets."
Krejci would end up playing 22 minutes in this game. If Johnson is still out on Sunday and Hunter on a minutes restriction, I would expect him to play a similar amount of minutes.
As good as Saddiq Bey has been in the past few games, it was a really rough night for him tonight. He would finish 1-12 from the field tonight and 0-6 from three. If they were playing another team that was healthy, Bey's poor night could have cost Atlanta.
It was a mixed night for Clint Capela. He did finish with a double-double (15 points, 13 rebounds), but he was also 5-13 from the field and missed some shots at the rim, which has been a weakness for him.
Hunter, Fernando, Garrison Matthews, and Trent Forrest came off the bench for the Hawks tonight, with Hunter leading the group with 12 points. It was not a great night overall for the bench, but Hunter hit some key shots down the stretch.
Jackson Jr was not as effective in the second half as the first. He finished with 21 points.
The Hawks are getting help from the fact that the teams they are facing are severely short-handed, but a winning streak is a winning streak. Atlanta has strengthened its grip on the No. 10 spot in the play-in tournament heading into its matchup with New Orleans. The Pelicans are playing at a high level right now and will be a tough matchup for the Hawks.
That game will tip-off at 6:00 p.m. Sunday at State Farm Arena.
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