The Hawks fall short in Emirates Cup...

The Atlanta Hawks fall short in Chicago. The Atlanta Hawks kick off a three-game road trip on Friday, and they were feeling rested and yet restless. Hawks won four of the last five games coming into this game. But this right here, this is a tough loss for the Atlanta Hawks. I'm not even going to lie to you guys. Welcome back to Hawks Digest, everyone. We have postgame. Hawks, Bulls. And boy, it feels pretty crazy, you know what I'm saying, about this game. Of course, Chicago coming into this game on an eight-game losing streak. The Atlanta Hawks poison prime to try to get back into the win column after that loss on Monday to the Los Angeles Lakers, 124-114. Atlanta Hawks they were looking to bounce back but unfortunately it didn't go their way and I have a few things and a few reasons on why it did not go the Atlanta Hawks way so I'm going to get into that as I tip my cap to you guys and I have to let you guys know that today's video is indeed sponsored to you guys by Calshi. Now, guys, yeah, right there on the screen, like how it is. Now, guys, when you're talking about Kaoshi, you're trading directly against other users like myself. So it's you versus me, not those traditional sport books like when you're always getting your money taken from you. You're buying yes or no contracts on the outcomes of politics, weather, and what we all love, sports. So guys, if you are interested in Couchy as you should be, go ahead and hit the link in the description and the pinned comment, DigestNBA, guys. That is DigestNBA like it is on the screen. Go ahead and get that $55 added to your account when you trade your first 25. Thank you to Couchy so very much. Now, let's go ahead and get into it, guys. Thorn in the side. Chicago seems to be still owning us yet again. The Atlanta Hawks are now 3-7 in the last 10 meetings between the two teams. It's just been a thorn in our side, like I said, and the game started out that way again. I mean, even though Jalen Johnson, he seemed to be trying to come out and be aggressive in the beginning, It still was one of those games to where... We started out sloppy. First play of the game, we ended up with a turnover. Kingston Fleming. And I will say about this, between these two teams, we're talking about one and two in pace. Hawks being number two, Bulls being number one. It's just the Hawks offensively are overall ranked better than the Chicago Bulls and defensive ranked better as well. You throw all that out the window when you talk about matchups, when you're just talking about, again, like a thorn in our side. Chicago has just been one of those teams, it seems like no matter who's on the team, the Atlanta Hawks still struggle with them. And, again, Jalen Johnson was being aggressive coming out the gate. He accounted for the first seven points of the Atlanta Hawks' points, four points, had one assist to double O, who had hit three. Norman Powell, he's one of those guys that's a shot maker. Josh Giddey has turned into one of the NBA's better ball handlers and playmakers. And that's what you really had to deal with for the most part all night long. Those two guys getting off. The turnovers. The turnovers, guys, that was really... Y'all know I hate about that. And y'all know I hate when the Atlanta Hawks have high numbers of turnovers. That's one of the things that I really look at. When I think about what hurt the Atlanta Hawks early on and caused them to have to climb out of holes, well, definitely it's going to be the turnovers. And the turnovers led to at least seven to nine points starting off the first quarter extra that the Chicago Bulls had. Hence, 24-33 at the end of the first quarter. Because, again, more turnovers. They're getting out into fast breaks. They went out into a bull and went on a quick 5-0 run before you knew about it. And this was a game of runs. Each team went on runs in order to either... Um, get away from one, one another, or should I say, you know, so the Bulls for the most part who, you know, had the game in hand and was leading most of the game, they kept trying to play keep away, keep away from the Atlanta Hawks and the Atlanta Hawks were going to run to say, Hey, Hey, don't go not so fast. Let's not go too far. The Bulls. I mean, uh, the Bulls really was controlling the pace. I would say that controlling the pace and you look at here, even though the Atlanta Hawks won the points in the paint. Yeah, that's great. But at the same time, and fast break points. So we proved that we was more of the superior team when it came to pace, fast break points. The Atlanta Hawks, for the most part, didn't really start even halfway looking themselves into the second quarter. I really believe the first quarter, the first half period, but really that first quarter was kind of like the tempo setter for the Atlanta Hawks and for the Chicago Bulls. Because the Atlanta Hawks, they were... At times, lackadaisical on defense, and it wasn't just one person. It was different instances where it was different people, okay? The Atlanta Hawks, you know, so you got to shout out to the bench because the bench was one of the teams, excuse me, was the team in the unit that was able to really get back into the game for the Atlanta Hawks, and then you would sprinkle in some of the starters, and then they would kind of like get it going a little bit, but really it was the bench, as you see, 51 bench points to 36. But look at those turnovers. That's the one thing that I can circle right there. Yes, the Bulls had 24 turnovers, but the Chicago Bulls was able to hit some shots as well. Turnover, 17 turnovers for the Atlanta Hawks is always a recipe for disaster. It really doesn't matter because if you turn the ball over, you're really not able to get into your full flow. And if you're struggling with your shot too, you're making it even more tough on yourself. Even at the defensive lineups and everything like that, and we can talk about that because... You can make some questions about some of the rotations. You can make some questions about some of the timeouts and when you've got to call. And that's why, like, when Coach Quinn calls a timely timeout, I always try to give him credit for it. In the first half, he had a couple of times to where it was like, OK, he kind of like was able to stop the bleeding a little bit. But you wonder and I get it. You don't always want to call timeouts and just always just try to, like, save you guys. You want to see they can dig themselves out of a hole. I'm not going to lie to you. The fan base is going to be starting to continue to question Coach Quinn for every reason that you can think of under the sun, from rotations to defensive assignments to even just the let it fly mentality. Because it was a lot of times to where the Atlanta Hawks was letting it fly tonight, and it just wasn't flying. And it just wasn't knocking down the shots. And even though we had points off turnovers being 34, The Chicago Bulls still had 20 and their 20 was very big, very big even more so just because you can even look at this box score right here. You look at the box score and the box score is going to tell a whole story from the three-point line. Eight of 40 from the three-point line for the Atlanta Hawks. And believe it or not, even though they did have a better night at the free-to-file line as far as like only missing like five. Those five shots hurt you as well. Just them five, you know what I'm saying? I know it's nitpicking, but at the end of the day, you make more free throws, you're closer to this end result. Maybe you're able to win something in regulation. Free throws matter, but three-point shots matter as well because especially that's your philosophy and your style that you're being taught. You're getting up 43s, you're only hitting eight. Look at the Chicago Bulls on the other hand. They knocked down 23s out of 50. And the thing about it, Atlanta Hawks, they've had a game like that to where they were knocking down 17, 18, 19 three-pointers, and that was able to catapult them to a win. That's the same thing that happened with the Chicago Bulls and the Atlanta Hawks tonight. The Chicago Bulls just flat out was able to hit shots. They was able to orchestrate. A little bit better than the Atlanta Hawks. Hawks were not able to knock down a lot of shots. There were a lot of shots to where the Atlanta Hawks, as you saw, those guys were missing right at the rim type things. Missing around the rim. We were missing bunnies. We tried to knock down a lot of threes and we were just missing. And what you would see, Chicago were able to run out and go on a run. And that run in the fourth quarter. That started out the fourth quarter, it almost really was catastrophic, and it really still ended up turning out to be catastrophic when you look at having to go to overtime, and the way that overtime started out for you. You end up losing that quarter as well. A lot of three-point shots, a lot of three-point misses, and if you live by the three, you die by the three sometimes. It's the same way as like having with the sword. But again that's how we play. So we're going to get up the shots. We're going to shoot the three. Next game is going to be more of the same. But that 11-2 run that Chicago started off the fourth quarter that set the tone. You had to try to claw back in it, claw back in it. I also talked about it ever since last year. It's never good when the Atlanta Hawks always feel like they have to claw back into things when they have to claw back into things. Yes, we have gotten a win like that this year as well. But you don't want that to be a recipe. High turnovers, trying to always come back. You're not always going to have the energy to finish the game that way. So it's just, you got to be more disciplined. But I got to also get to the stars of the game. Who shined the brightest? And it's not a whole lot. I feel like everybody was kind of around in the same, but I will give a shot to CJ McCollum. But CJ McCollum definitely had his 20 points tonight. He needed every bit of it, 9 of 16, 2. He really was one of the only ones that shot decent from the 3-point range because everybody, everybody struggled, okay? Everybody struggled from the 3-point range. I already showed you the 8 of 14, but CJ, he did have two 3s, which is 33%. And, again, he was one of the only ones outside of Lou Dort. Him and Lou Dort had the best three-point percentage tonight, and that was 33%. So, yeah, take that for what it's worth as well. And even the shot selection, sometimes like when you get behind the eight ball and you're so busy trying to climb into, climb back into it, sometimes you're going to go, you're always going to go back to the muscle memory and what you're always doing. Shooting the threes, sometimes not even trying to orchestrate your offense and try to see if you can get something in the paint or something just a little bit easier, closer to the rim. You go to your bread and butter. You go to try to knock down threes. But the Atlanta Hawks tonight, a lot of times, they gave up too many open threes. The Atlanta Hawks gave up too many screens, too much coming off the screens with the open threes, not adjusting to that, not fighting over the screen, not getting out in transition sometimes, and with those open threes, sometimes not even closing out on guys. It almost felt like the Atlanta Hawks tonight They almost felt like the rest was too much because they came out flat mostly in the first half. And in the second half, that's when you're trying to claw back into it. But you also have a flow with the other team. And they right now, you're trying to stop their flow. But they've already been flowing. You haven't been in the rhythm. You wasn't into the flow. So it's tough. And again, this team lost eight straight. And that's why the NBA. It's any given night, you know, if your shot is not falling, if you're not executing on offense and defense, if you're not playing up to the competition, regardless, you will mess around and suffer a loss that you're going to look back on. And I promise you, the Atlanta Hawks, when they look at this tape, they're going to feel like, man, we not only did we not give our best effort, it's a it's different instances in the game. We just didn't help ourselves at all. But shout out to CJ McCollum. Who, like I said, had a decent game as well, helping the Atlanta Hawks. And he's an older player as well. So, I mean, and shout out to CJ, too, because I know he's working with Amazon Prime as a player coordinator moving forward. So, you know what I'm saying? Life after basketball is going to be nice for CJ McCullough. At the end of the day, Kiyoka Okonwu, he dropped 17. 17 for Yates. Six rebounds, one assist. Seven of 13, not bad. Again, two or seven from the three-point line. Everybody shot bad, so it did. And in 34 minutes, Ayaka Okonwu out there doing the best that he possibly can. And, um... On Ayaka, you know, I said in the past few games, I feel like he has been coming into his own. I feel like he started off slow, but not only from the three-point line, he's still figuring that out. I'm just talking about his overall as far as getting into the game, but I feel like he is starting. So, you know, find his way and get his feet up under him, you know what I'm saying? Like, we've been getting close to a month of basketball, so everyone's starting to find themselves, but Jalen Johnson, Jalen Johnson is the last guy that I will talk about real quickly, because Jalen, 27 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists, triple, double JJ, okay? Okay, and Jalen Johnson, man. Even with all the accolades, right? Jalen Johnson. Still has a few things that he needs to continue to work on, and I know he will do that. But Jalen Johnson can also tally his 40th career game to where he has 20 points, 10 rebounds, and 5 assists, and that's the second most games in the franchise. But even with all that, guys, there are some times to where J.J. is a little passive, and there are some times where J.J. looks like he can run Run the court and do anything he wants to on the court. And no one can stop him. You know, there are times where he looks like that. But overall, you want J.J. to continue to be aggressive. Continue to get comfortable, J.J. At the end of the day, this is technically your team. So I'm looking forward to J.J. to continue to ascend game by game because the Atlanta Hawks need it. Regardless, this is Jalen Johnson's team. He is the head of the snake, you know what I'm saying, to a degree. So at the end of the day, we've got to have J.J. always on point. I believe eventually it's still going to come a point to where he's going to have to take the game over sometimes. We'll see, though. At the end of the day, I know he's still growing. I'm trying my best just to continue to be patient and see what's going to happen. Still early, not even a full month of basketball yet, but you do want to see more strides. This is a tough loss again. To the Chicago Bulls, who the team has had our number, man. They're going to throw it on our side. Point-blank period. Point-blank period, man, even though Yekka Akonwu also shot down Yek. Because he has 300 career steals now. 460. 417 blocks. And he, and I think tonight he became the one of eight Atlanta Hawks since 1973, 1974, with 400 plus blocks and 300 plus steals. But even with that, I'm pretty sure he would even say himself, it really doesn't even matter, because you just took an L to a team who was coming in one and nine, and now they're two and nine, and you're one of the two. That never feels good, Hawks fans. I don't care which way you look at it. I don't care which way you flip it. It doesn't look good. It's not a good one. You're going to want this one back. Of course, in the Emirates Cup now, you are 1-1, as so is the Bulls. We'll see how this goes moving forward. We're getting closer to the December and the semifinals, finals, all that good stuff is going to be played. We'll see where the Atlanta Hawks fall. But right now. This is a tough loss. Got to shake it off and bounce back because you have a game on Sunday that you have to get ready again, three-game road stint before we get back home and then go back on the road again. So just try to shake this one off, Hawks family. This one is a tough loss. I contributed to turnovers, bad three-point shooting, bad shot selection, not giving enough effort, too many open shots. Not enough boxing out, just not enough, and maybe even too much rest. Maybe even too much rest coming out from that Laker game that you had to come on the road, go to Chicago. It's not a lot of excuses, I know it, Hawks fans, but overall, when you have that whole mixed bag, you end up with an L to the 2-9 now Chicago Bulls. So until next time, guys, I'll be at you guys with another one. But I'm going to go shake off this loss just like the rest of you. And let's just get ready for the next game. I'm ready for the next game, and I think the Atlanta Hawks can still shake this off and get back on point. But it's got to happen quickly. Until next time, peace and blessings to you all, Hawks fans. We'll holler.