Hawks Weekend Round-up

By: Lucas Kochevar

      The Hawks played on Friday night against the Washington Wizards on Friday night. Both the Hawks and Wizards have been playing very good basketball lately. They were both close in the standings. No one would have thought that as Atlanta played like a high school team. They struggled to get their offense going early in the game as they went down 12-1 at one point. The Hawks would never bring it close and they were losing by as much as 30 points. The Hawks never looked into the game. Paul Millsap noted that they played with very little effort, "We came out lackadaisical. We didn't give them any resistance," (via Peachtree Hoops). They played god awful and they lost 112-86. Otto Porter finished with 21 points.

     The next Hawks game was against the New York Knicks this game was the more intriguing of the two games. This game was a 4 OT thriller that lasted over 3 hours. The Hawks and Knicks were very close for most of this game. The Hawks went into OT with the Knicks after Carmelo Anthony made a very contested lay-up. In the end of the first OT it was Carmelo again with a step back jumper over Tim Hardaway Jr. In the second OT, Dennis Schroder drove the ball and got a layup with the foul. It was over Carmelo and that was his 6th foul. He joined Kristaps and Dwight Howard with his 6 fouls. Schroder was miss the free throw and the Knicks would get a chance to tie the game. Courtney Lee would do just that and the two teams would go to a third OT. In the third it looked like the Knicks would win this gritty match-up after hitting 2 free throws, but Dennis would respond by taking the ball the length of the court and make the contested lay-up.

     By this point in the game, Dennis, Millsap, and THJ were dying on the court but they kept going as hard as they could. In the fourth OT the Hawks and Knicks would exchange three pointers. Bazemore would  hit 2 three's but the Knicks hit 3 three's. Paul Millsap would make a hook shot and give the Hawks a lead by 2. The Knicks would get trapped by the Hawks and they turned the ball over and the Hawks would get fouled, but of course they missed the free throw and New York would get a chance. Courtney shot two three's and his last one was a relatively good look and he should have made it. The Hawks escaped the game with a 142-139 win.

      Carmelo Anthony finished with 45 points. Paul Millsap turned in the most impressive game with 37 points, 19 rebounds with 60 (!!) minutes. He was the ultimate warrior in this game. Millsap said "There was no chance I was coming out," (via ESPN). Dennis Schroder also finished with 23 points and a career-high 15 assists. He played 55 minutes. Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 19 points in 58 minutes. Bazemore scored 24 points in 55 minutes and Dwight Howard tallied a double-double of 19 points and 13 rebounds. The Hawks play Tuesday against the Heat. They really need the rest with how they played Sunday. 

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