Hawks Beat Thunder Despite Sitting 9 Players in Preseason Win

Nine Atlanta Hawks players were ruled out before Monday night's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Hawks who did play beat the Thunder 113-110 at State Farm Arena.

Dyson Daniels, Luguentz Dort, Jalen Johnson, CJ McCollum, Onyeka Okongwu, and Aaron Wiggins rested. The other three are hurt. Henri Veesaar tore his right ACL in a Sept. 15 workout, Mouhamed Gueye had surgery on a fractured left foot in July, and Keshon Gilbert was listed with left patella tendinitis.

Oklahoma City traded Wiggins to Atlanta for two second-round picks in June. Dort followed in a three-team deal on July 19.

The Thunder rested their entire starting lineup and had nine players available. Monday was the first night of a road-and-home back-to-back for Oklahoma City. Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said the team would not travel a number of players because of "the rhythm of preseason and the fact that it's a back-to-back," according to Tom Lewis of Indy Cornrows.

The win was Atlanta's third straight and moved the Hawks to 3-1 in the preseason. Oklahoma City is 0-3.

Bennett Stirtz gave the Thunder a 100-99 lead on a 3-pointer with a little more than three minutes left.

With 11.6 seconds to go, RayJ Dennis hit a 3-pointer that put Atlanta ahead 111-107. Kobe Johnson scored on a driving layup with 1.8 seconds left. Stirtz made one more 3 with half a second remaining.

Jock Landale started at center and led the Hawks with 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting. He added 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks in 21 minutes.

Early in the first quarter, Landale scored 8 of Atlanta's first 15 points, two of them cutting dunks off passes from Nickeil Alexander-Walker.

Alexander-Walker was the only projected Hawks starter who played. He sat out Saturday's 119-117 win at Indiana.

On Monday, he had 16 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists in 25 minutes, made 4 of his 7 3-point attempts, and went 4-of-4 at the line.

Atlanta led 56-47 in the final seconds of the first half. Zhaire Smith's alley-oop dunk cut it to 56-49 at the break.

Zuby Ejiofor's 3-pointer put the Hawks up 77-70 with 3:22 left in the third.

Oklahoma City scored 9 of the next 11 points, and Aday Mara tied it at 79 with 32 seconds to go on a cutting layup from Anthony Pritchard.

Ejiofor tipped in a Kingston Flemings miss to open the fourth-quarter scoring. At the 9:47 mark, he drew a shooting foul on Andrew Holifield and made both free throws.

Twenty-eight seconds later, he put back another Flemings miss for an 87-81 lead.

The rookie finished with 15 points and 9 rebounds, 5 of them offensive, in 23 minutes off the bench.

Dennis finished with 13 points and 7 assists. Jalen Wilson scored all 12 of his points on 3-pointers.

Kobe Johnson went 4-of-4 from the field, including 2-of-2 from 3-point range, for 10 points, and he had 3 rebounds and 2 steals.

Hawks coach Quin Snyder used 12 players, and 10 of them logged at least 10 minutes, according to Atlanta News First.

Flemings, the eighth overall pick in June, made his second start of the preseason. He had 7 points and 7 assists in 28 minutes and shot 3-of-11.

Asa Newell and Corey Kispert also started.

Newell pulled down 10 rebounds and went 3-of-14 from the field, 1-of-9 from 3. Kispert's only two baskets were 3-pointers, and he finished 2-of-11.

Atlanta got off 102 shots, 12 more than Oklahoma City. Half of them were 3-pointers.

The Hawks made 18 of those 51 and grabbed 18 offensive rebounds, and the Thunder turned it over 16 times to Atlanta's 12. Oklahoma City went 13-of-31 from deep.

Stirtz, a rookie, scored a game-high 26 points on 9-of-16 shooting and made 6 of 9 3-pointers.

Mara, also a rookie, had 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 6 assists and went 9-of-12 at the line. Brooks Barnhizer scored 20 points. Josh Dix added 16, and Otega Oweh had 11 points and 10 rebounds in 35 minutes.

Oklahoma City blocked 13 shots.

The Thunder host the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday.

The Hawks close the preseason Friday at the Dallas Mavericks, with tip-off at 8 p.m. ET at American Airlines Center.

Atlanta opens the regular season Oct. 21 at the Orlando Magic at 7 p.m. ET and plays its home opener Oct. 24 against the Houston Rockets.