Defense, pride for the Hawks
There are fifteen seconds left in the game between the Hawks and the Hornets when Knuppel could receives the ball to try to equalize, to send the match to extra time. When it starts on the right, Nickeil Alexander-Walker he doesn’t allow himself to be overtaken and hits the ball when the Hornets rookie tries to go to the circle. A decisive action that allows Atlanta impose oneself.
NAV with a CLEAN streak to secure the win for the Hawks pic.tvitter.com/zKsrlHsBvKu
— NBA (@NBA) November 24, 2025
“I just read the play,” simply admits Nickeil Alexander-Walker after the meeting. “I know I made a few mistakes at the beginning of the match, but here I trusted my instincts. Most of the time I succeed in this kind of action. It was instinctive and I just read the play.”
“We have elite defenders in this team” ends Jaylen Johnson. “Dison Daniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker are the head of the snake on defense. Nickeil made a big move at the end of the match. It’s complicated to score on him in isolation. That was an important stop.”
A collective effort
This last action ended the matchup of the Hawks defense and two statistics prove it.
For starters, Atlanta forced Charlotte into 15 turnovers, compared to just seven for Quin Snyder’s men. Even better, the Hawks didn’t concede a single point on the counter attack.
“We are proud of our defense” admits Dyson Daniels. “We put in, come out and run, that’s how we want to play. When we’re able to do that, we know everything will go well on offense.”
A victory that requires a collective effort in defense, but also good circulation of the ball in attack. All carriers, with an exception Zachary Risacher (five points), reached 20 points led by Jalen Johnson and his 28 units, with 11 assists.
In all, the Hawks had 32 assists while Trae Young he was, once again, absent due to from a knee injury.
After this win, and before tonight’s trip to Washington, the Hawks rank 13th among the best defenses in the NBA with just 112.7 points allowed per 100 possessions. Last season, they were 18th with 114.8 points per 100 possessions.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | LF | Off | Def | That | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Ft | Pts |
| Jalen Johnson | 16 | 34:08 | 56.2 | 41.5 | 80.0 | 1.1 | 8.6 | 9.6 | 7.0 | 3.0 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 22.4 |
| Nickeil Alexander-Walker | 16 | 31:49 | 46.5 | 35.9 | 83.8 | 0.8 | 2.4 | 3.2 | 3.6 | 2.2 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 2.1 | 19.3 |
| Kristaps Porzingis | 11 | 26:49 | 47.5 | 33.3 | 86.2 | 1.5 | 4.2 | 5.7 | 3.5 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 1.7 | 3.2 | 18.4 |
| Trae Young | 5 | 27:48 | 37.1 | 19.2 | 82.1 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 7.8 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 1.8 | 17.8 |
| Mr. Okongwu | 17 | 29:39 | 51.8 | 40.7 | 78.2 | 1.6 | 5.8 | 7.4 | 2.7 | 1.8 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 3.5 | 16.2 |
| Zachary Risacher | 15 | 24:08 | 44.2 | 29.2 | 61.9 | 0.7 | 1.9 | 2.6 | 1.7 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 1.8 | 11.3 |
| Whit Krejci | 14 | 24:00 | 53.7 | 49.3 | 66.7 | 0.3 | 1.9 | 2.2 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 2.6 | 10.5 |
| Dyson Daniels | 18 | 11:00 p.m | 48.8 | 17.4 | 64.0 | 2.1 | 4.2 | 6.2 | 5.7 | 2.2 | 2.3 | 0.4 | 2.6 | 9.9 |
| Luke Kennard | 15 | 22:08 | 48.3 | 44.2 | 93.3 | 0.6 | 1.4 | 2.0 | 2.1 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 8.1 |
| Mohamed Gueye | 18 | 16:40 | 48.4 | 27.9 | 50.0 | 1.4 | 2.6 | 3.9 | 1.2 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 1.9 | 5.8 |
| Keaton Wallace | 16 | 15:41 | 44.9 | 44.2 | 37.5 | 0.1 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 2.7 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 5.3 |
| Asa Newell | 11 | 8:05 | 48.5 | 47.1 | 77.8 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 4.3 |
| Caleb Houston | 7 | 5:26 | 45.5 | 50.0 | 100.0 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 2.4 |
| Jacob Toppin | 4 | 2:30 | 75.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.5 |
| Dante was happy | 4 | 3:45 | 25.0 | 0 | 100.0 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 1.8 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.8 |
2025-11-25 13:18:00
