By: Matthew Weatherby
The Hawks continued their West Coast trip on Wednesday night as they traveled to Sacramento to take on the struggling Kings. This is the second of four games that the Hawks will play on this road trip. They will finish the trip on Sunday, then return home next week. The Hawks were still without Star guard Trae Young; meanwhile, the Kings got their key big man, Domantas Sabonis, back from his Rib Contusion last night. It didn’t matter as the Hawks handled business in the big man’s return, 133-100.
Hawks’ Efficiency leads the way
The Hawks shot 57.6% from the field, 42.5% from behind the arc and 81.8% from the free throw line. Just narrowly avoiding the elusive 50-40-90 number, which is the golden standard for scoring efficiency. On top of that, their defense was able to hold the Kings to 39.1% shooting from the field, 35.9% from behind the arc and the Kings only shot 77.8% from the free throw line.
The Hawks also managed to dominate the Kings in the two other major categories. They out-rebounded the Kings by 10 and had 20 more assists than the Kings did. Kristaps Porzingis had the lowest +/- total of the Hawks starting 5 at +32. While Precious Achiuwa held the high mark for the Kings starting 5 at -14. As you look at the starting 5 for both teams, you can understand why. The Hawks’ starting 5 shot 56% from the field, while the Kings’ starting 5 were held to 40% from the field.
Jalen Johnson’s Big Night
Johnson tallied his 44th career double-double last night on 90% shooting. To go along with his fantastic night from the field, he made all four of his free throws. Johnson was 2 assists short of his third career triple-double as he tallied 10 rebounds and 8 assists. His +/- for the game was +39, good for the third-highest mark for the Hawks last night.
This continues a trend that the Hawks have been seeing in the absence of Trae Young. Different guys have been stepping up in his absence. Against the Lakers, it was Mouhamed Gueye who stepped up. Monday against the Clippers, it was Vit Krejci who had a career night, and now Johnson against the Kings. When you add these performances to steady play from your #1 overall pick in Zaccharie Risacher, who has reached double digits in every game but one single Young has been out, the Hawks are showing their success can be sustained.
What’s Next for the Hawks?
They play the Jazz tonight in Salt Lake City as they look for their fourth straight win. The game is set to tip off at 9 pm EST. You can find it on Fanduel Sports Network Southeast.
