If they had generally done the job during the first week of competition, winning three times (Dallas, Detroit, New Orleans) and only losing once (Cleveland), the players of Atlanta have since fallen back into the ranks.
Evidenced by their four losses conceded in their last five games, against Washington, Philadelphia, Brooklyn and Utah. And this setback suffered Thursday night against the Jazz is probably one too many for the men of Nate McMillan, certainly in “back-to-back”, but who faced an opponent deprived of his best element, Donovan Mitchell.
Obviously, coming out of defeat, the speeches did not fail to be alarmist on the side of the Hawks. Starting with that of the coach of the franchise, far from being satisfied by the face displayed by his players in defense (109.8 points collected out of 100 possessions, ie the 25th “defensive rating” in the league).
« We need a spark, extra energy to pull us up », estimated ainsi Nate McMillan. « We need players who come in and defend. We need players who influence both sides of the pitch, not just one side. »
Changes to be expected in the rotation?
And the Atlanta coach did not hesitate to put pressure on some of his men, simply questioning their playing time, in order to trigger a click in them.
« I told the players I can’t give minutes like this, but you have to earn them », continued about this Nate McMillan. ” If you don’t give yourself both sides of the field, I’ll spin around and give them to others. I will start to do more. »
The assumed leader of these Hawks projected, at least, into the Eastern Conference Top 6, Trae Young is aware that something is wrong with the team and that it may need to be fixed quickly, for a change to take place. ‘operates.
« We have a lot of players who can play in this team, a lot of players who feel they deserve minutes », reminded the leader, about the distribution of minutes. ” So we need to clearly determine our rotations. […] We have to determine who is willing to sacrifice themselves for the team to win because, at the end of the day, it’s all about victory. [dans cette ligue] ».
Trae Young goes off the rails
But Trae Young also knows that he is far from evolving at his best level at the start of the year, especially in scoring, he who only turns “only” 22.4 points on average, only 41% on shots and 26 % at 3-points, in his first nine games of the campaign. Against 25.3 points on average, 44% on shots and 34% on 3-points, last season.
« I am not myself, I am not aggressive », he regretted moreover, concerning its offensive decline in power. ” I just try to get everyone involved, before I think about scoring. And I think it disrupts my pace and my shoot. »
Aside from Atlanta’s weak defensive involvement or Trae Young’s failed start, who no longer pulls his entire collective up, the franchise’s other major problem may have to do with the fact that she is now much more expected by his opponents.
In question: this conference final reached last June, against the Bucks (2-4), that this young group must now digest and leave behind, the better to start from zero.
« We have to treat every game like we’re in the playoffs », announced to finish the All-Star point guard. ” We moved away from it and we just play to find fluidity, so that everyone is comfortable. But if we don’t win, it’s no good. We have to go back to the way we played in the playoffs. […] We are learning. We are no longer the hunters. The regular season is more boring than the playoffs, I’m not going to lie to you, but you have to find the necessary motivation to be able to play like in the playoffs. »
| Tirs | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Tirs | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | Until | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Fte | Pts |
| Bring young | 9 | 34.4 | 40.7 | 25.5 | 92.0 | 0.7 | 3.1 | 3.8 | 9.2 | 3.1 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 22.4 |
| John Collins | 9 | 30.3 | 57.7 | 37.5 | 76.5 | 2.4 | 6.7 | 9.1 | 2.8 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 3.1 | 14.9 |
| Cam Reddish | 9 | 22.9 | 41.8 | 38.1 | 87.0 | 0.8 | 1.9 | 2.7 | 1.0 | 1.8 | 1.4 | 0.1 | 1.1 | 13.1 |
| De’andre Hunter | 8 | 29.2 | 50.6 | 44.8 | 37.5 | 0.4 | 2.2 | 2.6 | 0.6 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 2.9 | 13.0 |
| Bogdan Bogdanovic | 9 | 29.5 | 45.8 | 42.5 | 100.0 | 0.6 | 3.4 | 4.0 | 2.4 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.1 | 2.3 | 11.2 |
| Clint Chapel | 9 | 28.4 | 55.6 | 0.0 | 68.2 | 3.7 | 7.6 | 11.2 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 2.8 | 10.6 |
| Danilo Gallinari | 6 | 16.6 | 38.5 | 38.1 | 75.0 | 1.3 | 2.2 | 3.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 7.3 |
| Kevin Huerter | 8 | 20.2 | 36.7 | 20.0 | 100.0 | 0.2 | 2.5 | 2.8 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 6.4 |
| Lou Williams | 6 | 11.8 | 31.4 | 20.0 | 100.0 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 1.7 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 5.3 |
| Jalen Johnson | 4 | 3.7 | 62.5 | 66.7 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.5 |
| Gorgui Dieng | 9 | 11.9 | 36.0 | 27.3 | 60.0 | 1.7 | 4.1 | 5.8 | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 3.0 |
| Skylar Mays | 4 | 3.7 | 75.0 | 50.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 3.0 |
| Delon Wright | 8 | 10.4 | 42.1 | 20.0 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 1.5 | 2.4 | 1.9 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 2.1 |
| Solomon Hill | 3 | 14.1 | 25.0 | 28.6 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 2.3 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.7 | 0.0 | 2.3 | 2.0 |
| Timothe Luwawu-cabarrot | 4 | 3.7 | 16.7 | 33.3 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 |
| Sharife Cooper | 2 | 3.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
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