The Hawks fail against the Spurs, losing in OT 133-126

The Atlanta Hawks were in San Antonio to take on the Spurs on Thursday night. The Hawks are coming off a four-day break after losing to the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Cup quarterfinals.

There have been a few injuries since then, as Kobe Bufkin will be out for the remainder of the season and Onyeka Okongwu will miss the next four games. Nonetheless, the Hawks have players ready to step up immediately, and that started against the Spurs.

Trae Young made his mark on the game early by scoring and assisting most of the Hawks’ points early in the quarter.

The Hawks were down for most of the first quarter due to several three-pointers from Victor Wembanyama. The second unit kept the Hawks close with a few threes from Larry Nance Jr. and Bogdan Bogdanovic.

The Spurs led by as many as ten points near the end of the first period, but the Hawks were able to reduce their deficit to seven points by the second period. At the start of the second period, Nance hit several three-pointers to help the Hawks go on a 13-0 run and take the lead.

The Spurs were able to regain the lead, but not for long. Zaccharie Risacher was working in the paint and made this layup to go over two defenders.

When Young entered the game, the Hawks offense began to step on the gas. Young found Clint Capela downfield on consecutive passes, one as a lob and the second as a jump pass.

Young then quickly found Risacher for the corner three.

At halftime, the Hawks had a 66-60 lead over the Spurs. Both teams battled back and forth in the third quarter, with neither team able to gain a large lead. Dyson Daniels found Risacher in the lane for this easy dunk.

The Hawks turned defense into offense on this play, with Bogdanovic going behind the back to Johnson for the dunk.

The Hawks trailed early in the fourth quarter, but it didn’t last long as De’Andre Hunter went on a scoring run of his own. He scored 15 points for the 10th straight game and set a franchise record for most consecutive games without coming off the bench with 15 or more points

Young left the game and went to the locker room for a few minutes after his ankle injury, which he sustained earlier in the game, re-aggravated. From then on, the Spurs took the lead, but the Hawks were able to tie the game with a few three-pointers.

With less than two minutes left, both teams began playing three-pointers.

With 16 seconds left, the Hawks trailed by two points after Wembanyama reached the free throw line and tied it. The Hawks came back and Hunter got a big poster dunk against Wembanyama to tie the game and both players received a technical foul.

The Spurs got the ball back, but they hit the ball out of bounds and the Hawks got the ball back with eight seconds left. Unfortunately, Young missed the shot with seconds left and the game went into overtime.

The Spurs led the entire period and Paul finally crowned the game with a three-pointer.

Hunter finished the game with 27 points, Young finished the game with 23 points and 16 rebounds, Johnson finished the game with 22 points and nine rebounds and Nance finished the game with 21 points and 13 rebounds.

The Hawks will be back at home on Saturday to face the Memphis Grizzlies.