Atlanta Hawks Blown Out 128-112 Against Memphis, Losing Third Straight Game

The Atlanta Hawks have hit a bump in the road. Atlanta has now lost three straight games after getting blown out on their home floor by the Memphis Grizzlies tonight and have lost three straight after surging in the Eastern Conference.

The Hawks were without Trae Young tonight, but Memphis was without Ja Morant on the other side as well and they looked far more equipped to handle the loss of their star guard tonight. Memphis is well equipped to handle an absence from their best player, but the Hawks don't have the same luxury. Atlanta's offense struggles even with having one of the best offensive players in the NBA and without him they are just completely lost. Atlanta lost 128-112 and the game did not feel like it was that close.

The Grizzlies lept out to a big lead in the first quarter and never looked back. They shot 51% from the field and 44% from three for the game. Atlanta ended up shooting 48% from the field and 37% from three, but the fourth quarter did a lot of the heavy lifting for those numbers.

It was a balanced effort for the Grizzlies tonight, as they had seven players in double figures, led by 23 from Desmond Bane and 22 from Scotty Pippen Jr. Atalnta got 26 points from De'Andre Hunter, but no other player had more than 15.

There are no big takeaways from this game other than the Hawks are much better (especially offensively) with Trae Young on the floor. The Hawks don't have the offensive capabilities without Young and it doomed them early in this game and they could not recover. They will hope to have Young back for Monday's game vs Minnesota.

WIth Trae Young out tonight, the Hawks opted to go with Vit Krejci in his place. The rest of the starting lineup stayed the same. Dyson Daniels, Zaccharie Risacher, Jalen Johnson, and Clint Capela made up the rest of the starters. Memphis was without their star point guard as well. Scotty Pippen Jr, Desmond Bane, Jaylen Wells, Jaren Jackson Jr, and Zach Edey were the starters for Memphis.

The first half was as ugly as you can imagine for the Hawks.

The Grizzlies got out to a 12-2 lead and the Hawks offense was having a hard time getting anything going. After Quin Snyder took a timeout, the Hawks found a rhythm. They went on a 12-4 run and cut the lead to 16-14, but it was all Memphis from that point on. The first subs for the game tonight were Keaton Wallace, Larry Nance, and De'Andre Hunter. Wallace was a key part of the Hawks rotation early in the year, but had not played in some time.

Memphis outscored Atlanta 27-13 the rest of the way and led 43-27 after the first quarter. It was the same recipe that many teams have used against Atlanta this year. Atlanta allowed Memphis to shoot 61% from the field and 62% from three and they committed seven turnovers. Scotty Pippen Jr led the way for Memphis and it was all Grizzlies in the first period.

Things did not improve in the second quarter. The three point shooting for Atlanta was horrific (1-10) for the Hawks and the offense as a whole could not keep up with the Grizzlies, who were solid, but not great in that quarter. Pippen Jr scored seven more points and Memphis shot 50% from the field to extend the lead to 73-49 at the half. Atlanta was shooting 42% from the field and 26% from three, while Memphis was shooting 55% from the field and 50% from three. When a team makes eight more threes than you, it is hard to win a game, let alone keep it close. The Hawks turned it over 11 times and the bench for the Hawks (which is usually a big strength), was out scored 30-15 by Memphis.

Atlanta ended up outscoring the Grizzlies by eight in the seond half (36-28 in the 4th), but it was too late. The disastrous first half doomed the Hawks and they did not stand much of a chance to come back.