Hawks ignite stunning comeback, erasing 22 points to shock Suns. Johnson, Okongwu, and Alexander-Walker star in perfect West Coast sweep.
The Atlanta Hawks stormed back from 22 points down in the final 10 minutes to beat the Phoenix Suns 124-122 on Sunday night, completing a 4-0 West Coast road trip and delivering one of their most dramatic wins in decades.
Atlanta trailed 103-81 with 9:50 remaining before igniting a furious rally that Elias Sports says is the franchise’s largest comeback with fewer than 10 minutes left in regulation since at least the 1997-98 season. Coming into Sunday, the Hawks’ biggest comeback win with 10 minutes or fewer remaining was 20 points, achieved twice in 2017.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker fueled the late surge, scoring 16 of his season-best 26 points in the fourth quarter on 5-of-8 shooting. His scoring burst marked the third-highest fourth-quarter total of his career and his best in nearly four years.
Atlanta’s push began with a 24-5 run capped by a Vit Krejci 3-pointer as the Hawks repeatedly pressured Phoenix with drives from Alexander-Walker and Dyson Daniels. The deficit shrank possession by possession until Alexander-Walker drilled a corner 3 while absorbing a foul from Dillon Brooks with 3:17 left, completing a four-point play that pulled Atlanta within one and flipped the control of the game.
Before the moment swung, Alexander-Walker said the team’s mindset sharpened when Zaccharie Risacher exited after a hard fall on a transition dunk attempt.
In the immediate aftermath of the injury, he described the emotional spark it gave the group:
“Shoutout to Zacch, who gave us that big lift. Seeing one of our brothers go out like that, JJ said, ‘Yo, we’ve got to pick it up. We’ve got to set the tone right here.’ And we just kept chipping away. Everybody paid their contributions. Everybody locked in on the game plan towards the end. They out-rebounded us to start. That’s how they got their lead. We stopped turning over the ball. We got our good looks, and we stuck together.”
As the lead tightened, the Hawks’ rhythm grew stronger. Daniels said the offensive flow was what unlocked the comeback.
He pointed to how they moved the ball:
“Everybody was moving, everybody was sharing. That’s how we got open shots and started that run at the end.”
Alexander-Walker said the performance was part of something larger — the group’s commitment to each other on and off the road.
Asked how the Hawks became the first team in franchise history to sweep a West Coast trip of at least four games, he credited the team’s collective mindset:
“I just think we have a resilient group. I think we put our head down when we came together this entire trip. And the one thing that I would say that’s really impressive to me is our mentality, like our camaraderie around the team. Everybody is we push each other. JD gets on us all the time. I get on the guys all the time. Everybody accepts the accountability that we get. And when you do that, we get results like this.”
Head coach Quin Snyder praised the team’s mental resolve, calling it a core value throughout the road trip.
He emphasized the message he has reinforced all season:
“We have talked a lot about mental toughness. It’s not just pushing through when things aren’t going your way, but staying together and continuing to trust.”
Snyder also highlighted Johnson’s ability to read situations and carry different responsibilities throughout the game:
“The feel he has for the game—he has a diverse set of skills as far as passing, handling. He’s taking what the defense gives him. For any young player, it is one of the hardest things to do. Having the poise to find the open man. Sometimes you have to go through some things to get better. You can put your team on your back in a lot of ways.”
Johnson finished with 25 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, following up his 31-point, 18-rebound, 14-assist night in Utah. Afterward, he said the Hawks never lost their composure despite the deficit.
He summarized the team’s response:
“We never panicked. I just tried to play with force and be aggressive on both ends. This team has a lot of fight.”
Alexander-Walker said belief was at the heart of the rally.
He described how the coaching staff kept them steady:
“We believed all night. Coach kept telling us to keep attacking, don’t settle, and just stay together. Everybody stayed locked in.”
Brooks scored 34 points and Devin Booker added 27 points and seven assists for Phoenix, which controlled most of the night before being overwhelmed by Atlanta’s late push.
The Hawks, who improved to 8-5, return home to host the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday after completing a historic trip that began with a win in Utah and ended with one of the biggest late-game comebacks the franchise has ever recorded.