How Can the Hawks win against the Magic without Trae Young?

Trae Young has officially been diagnosed with a sprained MCL in his right knee and will be reevaluated in 4 weeks. Your friends at Hard Knock Hawks are here  to talk about how Trae Young’s absence affects the Hawks.

Offensive Keys

Trae Young is one of, if not the best playmaker in the NBA. There is no debate that Trae Young elevates an offense to a level that very few can. The Hawks will be without their franchise player for at least 4 weeks. Now, reevaluated in 4 weeks does not mean he will return to action in 4 weeks. It could be more, or less. Vit Krejci returned last year a bit early, so it is not impossible, but you could expect Young to be out for about 6-8 weeks. 

The Off RTG with Trae Young on the floor is 116.6 compared to 111.2 when he is off. The Def RTG is 125.2 with him on the floor and 109.6 when he is off. Atlanta also has a 11 TO% when on the floor compared to 15.4% when he is off. The assist numbers are higher as well; which is the best thing Trae Young does. Atlanta will have to rely on their defense down the stretch to win games. This means that Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Dyson Daniels will see heavy minutes and workload at the point guard position. 

The Hawks have to find a way to make more shots as a team. Looking back to the Cleveland loss on Sunday night, Atlanta only attempted 23 3PT shots. They had as many turnovers, 23, as 3PT shots attempted. It is almost impossible to win basketball games with that happening. Atlanta only made 6 of those 23 attempts for a 26% 3PT shooting night as a team. Atlanta also got to the free throw line 35 times and only made 25 for a 71% FT night. Big takeaways are you have to make shots, and you have to make your free throws.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker saw most of the time at the point guard position Sunday night, and he was very aggressive attacking the rim.  He was almost a bit too aggressive. Trae Young does a fantastic job at getting his teammates involved and generating open looks for his shooters. Alexander-Walker needs to swing the ball to open shooters when driving a bit more, but the hope is that he improves with time.

Another thing Trae Young excels at is controlling the game in the 4th quarter. The Hawks should look to Jalen Johnson to control the game down the stretch. He didn’t get the ball in that position on Sunday night as much as we would have liked. 

Our Keys to Tonight’s Game Vs Orlando

Marco & Blake- Slow starts have been an issue for the Hawks for the entire season. They have to come out of the gates with a plan and can’t get behind early. They fell to a 14-point deficit in Cleveland within the first 3:08 of the game and were climbing their way back all night long. Put the pressure on Orlando on your own home floor. They were able to climb out of a 12 point deficit against Orlando in their first matchup due to Orlando's poor offense, but they can't rely on that happening in their second match at home. 

Ant, Leon, and Chris- Winning the rebounding battle tonight is key. Orlando is a very good rebounding team, especially on the offensive glass. Orlando ranks 12th in the league in offensive and defensive rebounding as well as 10th in the league in total rebounding. Limiting second chance points tonight is important for the Hawks. It would be wise to see Mouhamed Gueye's playing time increase during this game and potentially even see Asa Newell to help with rebounding and give energy off the bench. 

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Make sure to follow all of us over here at the Hard Knock Hawks Podcast and make sure to check out our latest episode where we dive deeper into some of the things mentioned above. As always, GO HAWKS! CAW CAW!

Ant- @InsaneKaine

Chris- @Chri21opher

Leon- @justinvisible6

Marco- @Hawksfan200

Blake- @Blake_Rodgers4