Big second half leads Hawks past Hornets, 134-102

That was a beatdown.

The Atlanta Hawks were in Charlotte on Tuesday evening to face the Hornets. The Hawks cane in after taking a loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday, still trying to create some distance between them and the other teams around the Play-In.

Both teams just saw each other last week and the Hawks took the win, but this time there would be some differences. LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges were out for the Hornets, and Caris LeVert missed his second straight game with right knee soreness.

Dyson Daniels didn’t waste any time grabbing a steal in this one and took it coast-to-coast for the and-one.

The Hawks came out knocking down threes, getting two from Onyeka Okongwu, and one each from Trae Young and Zaccharie Risacher. The Hawks had a lead as big as 13 early in the first quarter.

The Hornets made a run midway through the quarter and cut their deficit down to two points, but the Hawks were able to score the last six points going into the second to increase their lead to 32-25.

The second quarter started a bit rocky for the Hawks with a few turnovers, but a few nice plays on the offensive side of the ball neutralized them. Terance Mann got this three to go to keep the Hawks afloat.

Young then called his own number and got an and-one to go to increase the Hawks lead again.

Okongwu continued to let it fly from the perimeter, knocking down his third three of the game in just the second quarter.

The Hawks kept the ball on a string throughout the quarter which led to a wide-open three from Vit Krejci.

Down the stretch of the first half, the Hawks continued to execute on both sides of the ball, with Young getting another and-one opportunity with his off hand. The Hawks went into halftime with a 70-57 lead.

The Hawks came out firing to start the second half, but more specifically, it was Risacher who knocked down three straight 3-pointers.

The rest of the team followed Risacher’s lead, and they started to run the score up on the Hornets in the third. Unfortunately for the Hornets, Risacher kept his hot streak going and scored 16 points in the third.

With the lead continuing to grow, the Hawks started having fun and Young found Daniels with this behind-the-back pass.

The Hawks led by as much as 35 in the third and went into the fourth quarter up 26 points. They continued to pile up the points in the fourth, and it was Young who put the nail in the coffin scoring nine points in the quarter.

Scoring wasn’t the only thing Young did in the fourth.

The Hawks cleared the bench with a few minutes remaining on the clock, and they walked away with a comfortable win.

Young finished with 31 points and eight rebounds, Daniels finished with 22 points and seven assists, Risacher finished with 21 points, and Okongwu finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds.