Atlanta closes Summer League 0-5 after their 90-82 loss to The New York Knicks

It was the final game of the NBA Summer League for the Atlanta Hawks and the New York Knicks, and the Hawks entered this game without a win thus far. They were without No. 1 pick Zaccharie Risacher for the third straight game, as well as Nikola Durisic, Kobe Bufkin and Mouhamed Gueye. EJ Liddell also sat out.

After a hot start to the game, the Hawks fell behind and never caught up, despite the game being tight in the final two minutes. It was another excellent performance from Keaton Wallace, who was probably the Hawks’ best player this summer. Wallace finished with 23 points, nine assists and six rebounds. His 23 points led all scorers in the game. Jonathan Bowden scored 16 points, Dylan Windler had 14 and Miles Norris had 12 points in his first start of the summer. The Hawks shot 35% from the field and 33% from three.

Atlanta had another problem with turnovers today, losing the ball 17 times. They also couldn’t get much production off the bench.

It’s been a mixed Summer League for Atlanta, but now it’s over.

Let’s recap the Hawks’ latest performance in today’s Summer League.

This was the starting lineup for the Hawks. Bowden and Norris got their first starts of the Summer League.

G-Keaton Wallace

G-Jordan Bowden

F-Dylan Windler

F-Miles Norris

C-Rob Bakker

After slow starts in the last two games, the Hawks reversed that trend today by getting off to a much better start. Atlanta raced out to a 13-2 lead early in the first quarter on three-pointers. The Knicks responded with a 7-2 run to cut the lead to six, but the Hawks calmed down and led 20-11 with 2:38 left in the first quarter. After the timeout, the Knicks scored five straight goals to cut the lead to four.

After the first quarter, the Hawks led 21-18. Atlanta shot 35% from the field and 40% from three. Keaton Wallace had seven first-quarter points and Windler had six.

New York shot 35% from the field and 22% from three. Rookie point guard Tyler Kolek had six points.

Although the Hawks started out strong in this game, they didn’t shoot the ball well in the second quarter. New York started the quarter on an 8-1 run and they kept building it from there. The Hawks offense went cold and the Knicks found their shot from beyond the arc. With 5:43 left in the first half, New York now had a 33-26 lead over Atlanta.

While the Knicks had the early momentum in the second half, the Hawks didn’t let them run away from the game and fought until the end of the quarter. New York led 43-38 at halftime.

At halftime, Atlanta shot 35% from the field and 29% from three. Keaton Wallace led all scorers with 13 points, and he also had five rebounds and six assists. New York shot 41% from the field and 30% from three in the first half. No Knicks reached double figures in points.

The third quarter was a close, back-and-forth affair with the lead never getting too big, but the Hawks couldn’t score enough to really make it exciting. Wallace was quiet in the third quarter, but Miles Norris was strong off the bench with both he and Windler reaching double figures in the third quarter. Both teams continued to trade baskets throughout the quarter with New York leading 67-60 going into the final quarter of Summer League play for both teams.

With the fourth quarter largely the same, Atlanta ran out of time to make a run. Keaton Wallace hit a three to cut the lead from six to three with 2:48 left in the game.

The Knicks came out of the timeout and hit a three to cut their lead to six, but Wallace responded for the Hawks with a three of his own to cut it to three. New York got the ball down the court and forced the Hawks to foul, but they only split the pair and it was 84-80 with less than two minutes left. Atlanta then committed a costly turnover to get the ball back to New York and they hit a three to cut the lead to seven with 1:16 left in the game. Windler responded with a basket to cut it to five and the Knicks lost it. Atlanta had a chance to make it happen with 57.5 seconds left in the game.

Instead of capitalizing on the opportunity, the Hawks turned the ball over, leading to a three-pointer by New York to make it 90-82 and the game was a done deal. Atlanta ended Summer League without a win after a battle with the Knicks today.