The Atlanta Hawks were in Charlotte on Wednesday evening to face the Hornets. This was the last game for the Hawks before the All-Star break, and it would’ve been good for them to get a win, especially against a Hornets team that is right behind them in the standings. These two just saw each other on Saturday, and the Hornets walked away with the win.

In this matchup, they were without Moussa Diabate and Miles Bridges after their recent suspensions. As for the Hawks, Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, and Zaccharie Risacher were available after being on the injury report coming into the game.

The Hawks ran early, and when they did, they got good shots.

After being down early, the Hawks fought back and took the lead, with the help of Johnson and Daniels.

The Hawks had a hard time stopping the Hornets from the three-point line, but mostly Kon Knueppel. That led them to fall into a deficit for the rest of the quarter, but the Hawks kept getting good shots.

The Hawks went into the second quarter trailing 35-27.

Things didn’t get better for the Hawks to start the second, and they kept getting burned by the Hornets on the three-point line. With that, they found themselves down by as much as 17 points midway through the second.

The Hawks trimmed their deficit a little, and they did by doing what they do best.

The Hornets cooled down substantially from three, and that helped the Hawks to continue to cut down their deficit down the stretch of the quarter.

Okongwu was a big part of the run, finishing at the rim on this play.

Okongwu again, but this time from three.

The Hawks’ defense was on another level down the stretch of the first half, and they turned that into easy offense to find themselves down three points.

The Hornets only way to extending their lead was by free throws at this point, but the Hawks kept fighting. Johnson had this nice move to get to the basket.

The Hornets got a three-pointer to go to end the first half, and the Hawks trailed 58-49 going into halftime.

It’s almost as if the Hawks forgot what they did to get back into the game late in the first half, because they started the second half giving up two three-pointers from LaMelo Ball. What was a single digit deficit turned into a 19-point deficit for the Hawks, and they had to once again fight out of it.

Johnson did his best to try and keep the Hawks in it.

It was going to take more from the Hawks to get back into the game, but they found it hard to get stops when they needed it the most.

The Hawks’ struggles continued throughout most of the third, as they shot 1-for-11 from three. They still didn’t let things get too out of hand, and going into the fourth, they trailed 89-75.

Things started to click for the Hawks to start the fourth, and it was CJ McCollum who brought them back to life.

Mouhamed Gueye hit some big shots to start the quarter as well, and it helped the Hawks cut down their deficit to single digits.

The one thing that helped the Hawks get back was going into a zone defense. After a while, the Hornets did find a way to beat it, and they started getting back to making three after three. The Hawks had just enough juice on offense to answer back when they needed to.

The Hawks continued their strong defensive play, and turned it into more easy buckets on the other end.

Down the stretch, the Hawks won two challenges back to back which were huge for them, and they were able to score again to cut down their deficit even more.

The Hawks got another stop, and Okongwu was fouled at the three-point line, and he knocked down all three to make it a three-point game. The Hawks got one more stop, and Johnson cut it down to a one-point game after a runner.

Though the Hawks got another stop, they were not able to score on other end this time, as they turned the ball over. They had to foul at this point, and Knueppel went to the line to make it a three-point game.

The Hawks had a timeout, but they elected not to use it, and take it down the court. There was a lot of dribbling going on, and it ended up turning into a contested Okongwu three-pointer that did not go in, and the Hawks walked away with a loss.

Johnson finished with 19 points, 13 rebounds, and nine assists, Daniels finished with 21 points, Okongwu finished with 18 points, and McCollum finished with 17 points.

The Hawks will be back in action next Thursday against the Philadelphia 76ers.