ATLANTA, GA – The Atlanta Hawks have been in several situations this year where they've needed a bucket to close out games, and several players have had a crack at it. Trae Young when he was once on the team. Jalen Johnson has punished a few smaller defenders to close out games. CJ McCollum has even had a chance in his short time with the team.

Then you have Nickeil Alexander-Walker, who has had his fair share of moments throughout the season and has shown he's never afraid of the moment. Against the Utah Jazz, he was tasked with the opportunity once again.

With ten seconds left and the game tied after Ace Bailey knocked down a three-pointer, the Hawks had two timeouts to spare. Quin Snyder elected not to call one, and the ball was given to Alexander-Walker off the inbound.

“They were cross-matched, and they were kind of scurrying to get back. As I was bringing it up, I could tell that they hadn’t really declared a pick-up point on the ball,” Alexander-Walker said. “In that moment, it was, ‘Okay. Try to get to the basket.'

“I saw a lot of space behind me, tried to go left to get to the basket, and then once I realized he had cut me off, immediately I just got into ‘What is the counter that I work on in this moment? ‘ I was able to put myself in the practice facility again in that moment and just go through the reps of what I practiced every morning.”

It was a turnaround jumper that Alexander-Walker settled for. The ball made two bounces before it rolled in. It gave the Hawks a two-point lead with 1.3 seconds left, and they were able to get a stop on the other end to win the game.

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Before Alexander-Walker came to the Hawks, he didn't have to take those shots because there were other players tasked to do so. This season, he's having the opportunity to have the ball late in the game to make a decision, and the team trusts him to do so.

“All that I’ve been through in my career, it’s really cool to finally work to gain that trust from somebody,” Alexander-Walker said. “In late-game [situations], playing with [Anthony Edwards], playing with guys like [Brandon Ingram], Donovan [Mitchell], Zion [Williamson], like so many guys that had the ball late game and were trusted to make plays to go out there and honestly carry the team in a possession, so to speak.”

“For me, it’s pretty cool cause I worked for those moments, and today was a shot that everyone kept saying to me that we seen so many times, knowing that I work on that stuff. It’s more relieving that it went in because of the work that I put in and how many times I’ve shot it before, and in that moment, it’s really cool to see it go in and to know that the work also translates.”

Snyder knows that he has options when it comes to late-game situations now, and it seems like these are situations they talk about a lot.

“If those guys have an advantageous situation that they can get to sometimes, you can call a timeout and get a great play and score that way,” Quin Snyder said. “There's a chance that you do that, and someone misses, but whatever you decide to do as a team is something that we’ve covered. It does go to you having confidence in those guys, and you know how hard they work. We talk about it, and they’re behind each other, and you want to get a good shot.”

There's no doubt that Alexander-Walker is going to get more opportunities as the season continues to seal games for the Hawks, and the more he makes them, his confidence will only continue to skyrocket.