Hawks give up 24 3’s; Hornets spoil Young’s return, Johnson’s career night

“I think as much as frustration in those moments, it’s the actual result of the play,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “You play good defense for 24 seconds and there’s an elbow and the balls goes out of bounds, and I thought we responded to that. But even in responding, sometimes it’s difficult when you give them two chances at it.”

The Hornets finished with a season-high 24 3-pointers, 18 of which came in the first half. The 24 3s were the most allowed by the Hawks this season.

Quick stats: Johnson had a career-high 43 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists as he tried to will the Hawks back into the action. Nickeil Alexander-Walker had 28 points and eight rebounds off the bench in his first game back. Young had eight points and 10 assists in 17 minutes in his return.

Key moment

Young had a minutes restriction and had to wait until his second stint before he scored his first field goal. After a five-minute shift, where he dished two assists, drew an offensive foul but had one turnover, Young returned to the court for the final four minutes of the first quarter.

With 2:57 to play, Young drove into the paint off a pass from Johnson. As two Hornets defenders closed off the rim, Young pulled up and let off his floater for his first points since Oct. 29. Young’s floater pulled the Hawks within six as they tried to fight through the Hornets’ hot-shooting night.

“It’s not easy (to shake off the rust),” Young said. “Really, the main part is the conditioning; not having the leeway to give more if you can is not easy. It’s the first one, and the NBA has a long season. Just one of many.”

Highlight play

Johnson was not the only one to try and get the Hawks back into Thursday’s game. As the Hornets tried to run away with the game early, Alexander-Walker hit three consecutive 3-pointers that pulled the Hawks within a single-digit deficit at the end of the first half.

What they said

“When a team gets momentum like that and gets confidence, it gets harder. So I think in the half court, we were just a step late, with some rotations and they were getting those windows, and they were making them, I thought as the game progressed, shots got harder. We talked about, you know, I thought we’d get better defensively as the game progressed. But you want to try to do as much as you can to make those shots, more difficult and have them be more contested and not as open.” - Snyder on how to better defend the Hornets’ first-half 3s.

“It was easy being back out there with those guys. And the way we want to play, is play fast and it sucked the first half, we couldn’t really make shots, but we also couldn’t get stops as well. They were making a lot of shots in 3s, and it’s tough for us to get out and get on transition and run. We did that later in the second quarter. That helped us get back into the game, and then we continued that in the second half.” - Young said of his 10 assists.

“Well, I think it just comes down to the defensive end. I mean, our offense is pretty, pretty, pretty good. So I think it just comes down on the end and closing possessions. I think if we do that, just a different game.” - Jalen Johnson on how this close loss differs from the others.

“More discomfort, more uncomfortable situations, just trying to find ways to be a leader and help settle everything down. Being poised in the chaos, on the road when they hit a big shot, whatever is going to keep us together and be available and ready to compete each possession.” - Alexander-Walker on what the team can learn from this loss.

Up next

The Hawks return to the court to host the Spurs on Friday at State Farm Arena.