How Jaylen Johnson already surprised Kristaps Porzingis

ATLANTA, GA- All was well for Atlanta Hawks in the first half against the Denver Nuggets. They made almost all of their threes, got to the rim with ease, and most importantly, they pretty much contained Nikola Jokic. Through that process, Jaylen Johnson did something no Hawks player made it, recording triple-double in the first half.

Unfortunately, it all came to an end in the second half, where it is The Nuggets remembered who they were and began to eliminate their deficit. Vox’s 19-point halftime lead for the Hawks turned into a four-point lead midway through the third quarter, and the Nuggets closed out the fourth quarter as they eventually won 134-133.

Despite the loss, it’s hard for what Johnson did to go unnoticed, as he finished the game with 21 points, 18 rebounds and 16 assists. There is no doubt that he continues to improve with every game and that he is turning into one of the young stars of the league right before our eyes.

“From the outside, I didn’t expect him to be such a good passer and creator,” Kristaps Porzingis he said after the game. “He’s consistently putting up those numbers in the game as well. You don’t feel like he’s pushing too hard. He’s just going downhill, throwing out, getting some easy looks for us.”

“He’s playing at a super high level. I’m happy to see him play like this. Just watching him day in and day out and how he works and how he’s locked in every game, you can tell he wants to be great and I’m just here to support him.”

Johnson will tell you he’s just playing his game.

“It was fun to play the way we did,” Johnson said. “That’s our identity. How we want to play is fast. As soon as we get a stop, we run. And that was just a product of that.” “

The Hawks fell in the second half against the Nuggets

Even though the Nuggets held a double-digit lead throughout the fourth quarter, the Hawks still had enough power for one last run. Just like the Nuggets did to them in the third, the Hawks started knocking down some shots while getting key stops on the other end. Late in the match, they trailed by as many as two points, they had a chance to equalize or take the lead, but they turned the ball over.

They had another chance to try to tie the game after that with a 3-pointer, but Nikki Alexander-Walker blocked the shot, then fumbled with the ball for a moment before laying the ball down. What Alexander-Walker probably didn’t realize during the chaos was that he had plenty of time to pass it on to some open shooters.

“Nickel would be the first to say he probably could have kicked it out,” Porzingis said. “When he took the first one, and Murray kind of got a piece of it, he probably would have looked at the film and seen that he was kicked out, because I was pretty open. With me at 7’3, I was able to get a shot pretty much. But even when he was driving, he got into the paint, and I think he had a shot on Witt (Krejci). But how it goes.”

The Hawks know that in those situations they have to shut down those teams when they can, but they still gave themselves a chance to win.

“I think they’re going to be strong in the third quarter and aware that their top two guys are going to be a lot more aggressive,” Johnson said of what the Hawks can learn from the loss. “I think being able to identify that type of thing early, I think that’s going to help us not keep those guys, but just be more aware of that type of thing.”