ATLANTA, GA – The Atlanta Hawks did not start the season how they wanted, losing their home opener 138-118 to the Toronto Raptors. From tip-off to the end of the game, the Hawks were dominated in the paint, in transition, and on the boards. To add on to it, they were never really able to find a rhythm offensively, and it doomed them throughout most of the game.
Trae Young was honest about the team's performance and didn't have much to look at when it came to positive takeaways from the loss.
“I don't think there are too many positives you take from tonight,” Young said after the game. “Obviously, the result was what it was, and it's embarrassing the way we started it.”
The Hawks were outscored 86-56 in points in the paint, and 34-11 in fastbreak points. They still look like a team that is trying to figure out how to play with each other with the new pieces they added, and it showed they didn't play together much prior to this.
“A lot of it comes from the preseason carryover,” Young said. “We didn't really play, all 5 of us, and you can tell by the continuity we have out there, and it wasn't right. That's part of the NBA: the cream always rises to the top. We got some time to make it up, and we gotta get going.”
It also didn't make things better that their best defender, Dyson Daniels, was in foul trouble throughout the game, which had some effect on how the Hawks played on both sides of the ball.
“Obviously, it’s not just one guy out there that has to guard everybody, but obviously, when Dyson is out there, it’s a big factor for us on defense,” Young said. “It’s frustrating when the refs call in 2 different ways, especially whenever they're doing the same thing that they call Dyson for.”
Hawks get outworked by Raptors in season opener
The one bright spot for the Hawks was Jalen Johnson, who played in his first regular-season game since January of this year. Johnson came out of the gate playing with aggression, and he kept the Hawks afloat for most of the first half. He finished the game with 22 points, seven rebounds, and eight assists, but he also knows that the Hawks need to be better, especially in transition defense.
“Rotations gotta be better,” Johnson said. “It's not too much that we have to overthink or anything; it's simple stuff that we have to clean up. We just gotta be better than we were tonight.”
“Transition defense is on us. I know coach wants us to crash, but that’s got to be the focus for us,” Young said. “That’s on us, not the coach. We gotta be better as a team and understand that's what the scouting report is. Teams think they can get a lot of transition points on us, so even when we're scoring, they're grabbing the ball and throwing it full court. If we’re missing like we did tonight, they’re able to get out and get in transition.”
The good news for the Hawks is that it was just Game 1 of an 82-game season. The chemistry will get better, the shots will start falling, and they'll learn from their mistakes.
“This is something we gotta learn from. We gotta be better at. If we'd been lost by one, it'd have been the same result,” Young said. “So, regardless of what it is, because it's a loss in the loss column, we've got to be better, and that's just what it is. And a lot of it is on us. It's stuff that we can fix, which is a good thing.”
