ATLANTA – There have been a few times throughout the Atlanta Hawks' win streak where they've had to turn it up a notch in the fourth quarter. They just had to do it a few nights ago against the Dallas Mavericks, and they had to do it again against the Brooklyn Nets. That notch turned up with around nine minutes remaining, and the Hawks won their eighth straight game, defeating the Nets 108-97.
It wasn't a pretty game on offense for the Hawks all night, as they shot 39% from the field and 30% from three, but they had one thing to rely on, which was their defense.
It was Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Mouhamed Gueye who set the tone for the Hawks at the beginning of the fourth, getting steals and making it hard for the opposition.
“It’s important for us to get stops because that’s when teams can really close the gap,” Alexander-Walker said after the game. “You can get a lot of easy looks, and they can get some easy ones. In our situation, there were a few calls that were missed that led to baskets for them. We gotta have a thicker layer of skin and just get back and play through some of those things and be able to get stops because they close the gap with us not scoring.
“When you’re down, you try to get stops and run. The mentality for me is if I’m not scoring, you’re not scoring. And we’re just going to be stuck here.”
The Hawks weren't stuck for long in the fourth because after they got a few stops, the shots started to fall.
“We got stops when we needed to, and we were able to convert more on the other end and had a few guys make some shots,” Quin Snyder said. “Jalen [Johnson], I’ve talked about his catch-and-shoot threes for a while now, and when people are giving him a little bit of space, he’s ready to make a decision.”
Zaccharie Risacher had one of his seven offensive rebounds in the fourth, and what he did all game on both sides of the ball helped the Hawks stay afloat throughout the game.
“Every time we're shooting the ball, I gotta make sure I crash [the glass] no matter what,” Risacher said. “I feel like that's been something I was trying to do during the season and just being aggressive.”
“Zacch getting seven offensive rebounds was a huge, huge plus for us,” Snyder said. “We obviously didn’t shoot the ball well. These are the types of games that you need to win, and to do it that way to me is significant.”
It was another big win for the Hawks as they made it eight straight, and they also moved up to the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference standings.
“This was a really good win with a lot of things to overcome,” Snyder said.
