The Atlanta Hawks began a five-game homestand with a blowout loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Friday night.
The homecourt pregame announcements of the Atlanta Hawks’ starting lineup haven’t included point guard Trae Young in almost two months. On Friday night, before the Hawks played the Spurs, recent losers in the NBA Cup Finals in Las Vegas, Young was once again out of the lineup. Back-to-backs are not on the agenda for Young, at least not at the moment. The Hawks brass is going to work him back into the flow.
This wouldn’t have been Young’s first game back; he started the game in Charlotte on Thursday night, a 133-126 loss. At times, Young (8 points, 10 assists) looked like he was trying to assimilate into what the Hawks were doing without him, and at other times, he came down the court and launched one of his patented 30-foot three-point attempts.
Without Young, the Hawks have still been pretty good this season, and that is mainly based on the play of one man. Hawks forward Jalen Johnson came into the game leading the Hawks in scoring (23.7 points per game), rebounding (10.5), and assists (8.2). Johnson has set the franchise record for career triple-doubles and single-season triple-doubles this season.
“Well Trae’s coming back from injury, and right now our medical staff is on top of that,” Hawks head coach Quin Smyder said after the game. “When he’s ready to play, he’ll play.”
Snyder added that the coaching staff will continue to monitor Young’s progress.
The Hawks fell behind 32-19 after the first quarter. San Antonio forward Devin Vassell got hot early, scoring 11 points while connecting on three of his four three-point attempts. Atlanta failed to get within single digits during the first half, while San Antonio went ahead by as much as 19 points with four minutes remaining in the half.
The third quarter began with the Hawks going on a 5-0 run before the Spurs got the lead back up past 20 points at the six-minute Mark. Former Newton High School star Stephon Castle went to the free-throw line to make the score 85-63 and followed that up with another drive before heading to the bench.
The Hawks may have been without their most popular player, but the Spurs were not. Third-year player , NBA All-Star, and French National Team member Victor Wembanyama is as good as advertised and if there was someone in the capacity crowd at State Farm Arena who had not seen him play yet, they go what they paid for. Wembamnyama dunked, blocked shots, shot threes, and brought the crowd to its feet. When he left the game with 10:53 remaining in the game he had 25 points and 12 rebounds. The Spurs were ahead 107-74.
The Hawks will next host consecutive games against the Chicago Bulls on Sunday and then again on Tuesday, December 23.