NBA Power Rankings: Hawks Stay Put After 2-1 Start After All-Star Break
The Atlanta Hawks have come out of the All-Star Break 2-1 with two straight wins over the Orlando Magic and last night, the Utah Jazz. The big news coming out of the All-Star Break has been the injury to Trae Young and that he is not going to be evaluated for four weeks. The Hawks have won both games since his injury announcement and they have a chance to put a stranglehold on their play-in spot if they can win both games against the Brooklyn Nets this week.
With the 2-1 result this past week, where did the Hawks find themselves in ESPN's latest power rankings?
The answer is that they are in the same position as they were last week which is 21st.
ESPN's Andrew Lopez had this to say about the Hawks performance over the past week:
"With Hawks guard Trae Young out at least four weeks after he had surgery on a torn ligament in his left pinkie finger, a major burden will be placed on Dejounte Murray to lead the Hawks through the rest of the regular season. Since they became teammates last season, Murray has played in 13 games without Young and averaged 25.7 points, 8.6 assists, and 5.9 rebounds (up from his 20.4 points, 5.5 assists, and 5.2 rebounds with Young). But the Hawks, still fighting to remain in the play-in, are 6-7 in those games, including a 3-3 mark this season."
I think two things that should have been highlighted are the Hawks defense over the past two games and the play of forward Jalen Johnson.
The first game might be easy to dismiss against an Orlando team that was missing their best player, but the Jazz are a pretty solid offensive team and they could not get anything going against the Haws. The Hawks defense held Utah to 37% from the field and 29% from three and Utah star Lauri Markkanen only had 11 points. Utah scored 0.90 points per possession. Rookie guard Kobe Bufkin had another solid performance on defense as well and his contributions should not be understated.
After the game, Hawks head coach Quin Snyder praised his defense for how they played:
"I think other than we had some stretches where particularly live ball turnovers, but when we got settled, I thought we did a better job of staying in front of the ball and our bigs came over and contested shots and got rebounds. It is playing through a whole possession and I think we are helping each other more."
Feb 27, 2024; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson (1) shoots against the Utah Jazz in the second quarter at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
There are not a lot of new things that can be said about the way that Jalen Johnson is playing, but he still should be getting plenty of love for his emergence. With Trae Young out, Johnson was going to be asked to do a lot on offense, as well as being their top perimeter defender and he has responded.
After a near triple-double on Sunday, Johnson almost had one again last night. He finished with 22 points, 13 rebounds, and six rebounds while shooting 9-14 from the floor. He looked comfortable running the floor on offense and his transition game is already among the best in the NBA. Johnson is one of the most improved players in the NBA and he is only getting better.
