Losing skid hits eight in Indy, 132-127

Played about as well as you could without winning.

The Hawks came in mired in a seven-game losing streak, so they needed to find a solution to their issues some way or another. Both Clint Capela and Bogdan Bogdanovic remain out with trade rumors surrounding the both of them.

Dominick Barlow got the start at the 4 — his second of his career and the first as a Hawk — next to Onyeka Okongwu for this game against Indiana in an attempt to shake things up.

Barlow made an impact shortly after tip-off.

The Hawks got off to a 9-4 start, but then Indiana’s ball movement found openings around the three-point arc, and that sparked a 12-0 run for them.

Atlanta could never find their footing after that surge, and they especially struggled with their makeshift bench unit when Trae Young left the contest. It didn’t help that Indiana seemed to drain every difficult three-point attempt they tossed up in the first quarter.

Trae Young did what he could to keep the Hawks in the contest.

After one quarter, the Hawks were in an early 40-24 hole. The Pacers shot 62% from the field and 50% from three in the opening period.

In the second quarter, the bench unit had a better stretch of play, but they couldn’t quite cut the lead down to single digits try as they might.

Still, it was good to see the Hawks hang in there after a rough first few minutes of the game — not to mention being largely undermanned.

Once the starters came back in, however, the comeback was on. Dyson Daniels chipped in with important scores for the team.

Towards the end of the quarter, the Hawks kept chipping away at the lead by capitalizing on Pacers turnovers.

Garrison Mathews caught fire in the second quarter as well, his 14-point outburst in the period helped evaporate the deficit almost in its entirety.

At halftime, the Hawks were down just four, 68-64, after trailing by as much as 18. Dyson Daniels led the Hawks with 15 points, and Trae Young had his tenth 10-assist half of the season to go with eight points.

A pair of Barlow buckets tied things up at the start of the third quarter. At this point, you could tell the Pacers were moving a step slow and defense, and Atlanta kept up the high-energy play.

Here was the Hawks doing it on both ends.

Indiana didn’t go away, however. They woke up and continued to fight.

Towards the end of the third quarter, things began to get away from Atlanta again as they let Indiana — but primarily Obi Tobbin — get to the rim too easily.

After three quarters, the Pacers led 99-95.

Zaccharie Risacher continued to build upon his 30-point outburst last time out with some important buckets at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

The Hawks and Pacers went back and forth in the middle section of the quarter, with both sides showing hustle in diving on the floor for 50/50 balls.

Then Trae Young took over with some long bombs and his usual flair assists.

The game was knotted at 119 with 3:30 to go, but two wide open threes from the Pacers’ ball movement put the Hawks behind the 8-ball.

Atlanta drew some fouls to keep the margin close, but it looked like couldn’t find answers from the field to win the game until Risacher rebounded a Young miss and hit Young again for a three to bring the score to 127-125 Indiana.

Atlanta traded two free throws off an intentional foul for Haliburton with an Okongwu dunk to again put themselves down two, this time with just 13 seconds to play. But Aaron Nesmith again put the Pacers up four after a second intentional foul, and Young missed a long three to essentially end the game, 132-127.

Young finished with 34 points and 17 assists. The Hawks will try again on Monday to breaking the losing streak in Detroit.