Hawks Rally Past Nets 124-121 for Fourth Straight Win

Nickeil Alexander-Walker made both free throws with 1:26 left Saturday night, and the second one put the Atlanta Hawks in front for the first time all game.

Atlanta beat the Brooklyn Nets 124-121 at State Farm Arena. The Hawks trailed by 17 in the first quarter and by six with 4:06 to play. After Mikel Brown Jr. hit a 28-foot 3-pointer with 2:13 left to put Brooklyn up 114-110, Atlanta scored the next 10 points.

It was the back end of a back-to-back. A night earlier, the Hawks beat the Washington Wizards 139-132 at home. Saturday's win was their fourth straight, and they are 7-4.

Jalen Johnson scored 30 points in his return. He had missed three games with a left ankle sprain from the Oct. 31 loss in New Orleans, and the Hawks listed him as probable earlier Saturday. Johnson went 11-of-17 from the field and 8-of-10 at the line, missed all five of his 3-point attempts, and added 7 rebounds and 6 assists.

Johnson kept trusting the spots he knows he can get to, even with his 3-pointers not falling.

"It's extremely important," Johnson said of playing through contact without the 3. "Just kind of constantly trying to put pressure on the rim, constantly trying to find easy ways to get myself going. Obviously, I want those two back at the end that I missed, but just constantly trying to apply pressure on the rim, find easy ways to drive, find my lanes, and I know I can capitalize on it."

Johnson played 35:54. He said he felt good afterward and was "gonna get some treatment tomorrow and get ready for Monday."

Onyeka Okongwu, who had 22 points in Friday's win, was hurt on the game's opening possession. He went to the locker room and did not check back in until 4:22 remained in the quarter.

Brooklyn made 14 of its 19 shots in the period, including 6-of-10 from 3-point range. Nolan Traore had 9 points in his first 6:40 on the floor. A Noah Clowney 3-pointer with 3:57 left in the quarter made it 31-14.

Atlanta shot 11-of-31 in the quarter and trailed 37-27.

Hawks coach Quin Snyder said the team talked before the game about Friday's defense, which he did not consider its best effort.

"There's a little bit of an adjustment period," Snyder said. "Talking about what rotation's gonna look like, who's gonna play and when. And then, hey, we knew we'd be a little fatigued. I thought our guys push through that, and in some respects, they shot the ball incredibly well early."

"It was hard to feel like we were defending when the ball keeps going in the basket," Snyder continued. "So that was a big part of the game to me, that we just hung in there."

Johnson scored 10 points in the second quarter, when Atlanta went 16-of-26 from the field and outscored Brooklyn 28-10 in the paint. His three-point play with 37.8 seconds left and two free throws 19.8 seconds later cut the deficit to 68-66. Traore's turnaround jumper with 0.6 seconds left sent the Nets to halftime up 70-66.

Atlanta went 2-of-15 from 3-point range in the third quarter. Brooklyn went 1-of-14 from deep, won the period 25-22 anyway, and led 95-88 going into the fourth.

Aaron Wiggins opened the fourth with 3-pointers at 11:30 and 10:23, and the second one made it 95-94. He scored 12 of his 20 points in the quarter on 4-of-6 shooting.

Brown scored 13 of his 18 in the fourth. Three of his 3-pointers came in the final 5:08.

Dyson Daniels started the run. He stole the ball from Day'Ron Sharpe and found Okongwu for a 3-pointer at 1:44 that made it 114-113. Okongwu blocked Sharpe on Brooklyn's next possession, and Alexander-Walker drew a foul from Brown and made both free throws.

Michael Porter Jr. missed a 3-pointer on the Nets' following trip. Alexander-Walker ran out for a layup that made it 117-114 at 1:07.

Kingston Flemings blocked Brown at the rim with 59.3 seconds left. Brooklyn kept the ball, Porter drove, and the officials called a shooting foul on Flemings. Snyder challenged, and the call was overturned to a block. Johnson's driving layup and free throw with 38.5 seconds left made it 120-114.

From there, the Hawks went 4-of-10 at the line. Danny Wolf's 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds left made it 123-121, and Okongwu made the first of two free throws with 0.2 seconds left.

Johnson scored 12 points in the fourth quarter on 4-of-5 shooting. He takes a lot of pride in having the ball in late-game situations.

"It's fun," Johnson explained. "I think that's a great part about it. I don't really look at it as pressure. I'm not worried about the expectations, but at the end of the day, we all just trying to go get a win."

"Understanding the assignment at task and going out there and executing what's called," Johnson continued. "We made shots and we make shots down the stretch to give yourself a better chance to win the game. So I think we did a good job of that."

Wiggins thinks a team learns more about itself in close games, and that end-of-game execution leans on a lot of scheming by players and coaches alike.

"I think the team did a good job," Wiggins said, "just kind of being able to push through what seemed like a slow start for us, and going into halftime, cutting that lead to four points, and then in the second half, being able to overcome that hump and obviously get the win."

"It speaks to our mental toughness and our understanding of how we can win, even if it's an ugly win, and how we can win when things aren't going our way," Wiggins added. "Second night of a back-to-back. There were a lot of excuses that we could have had. And as a group, we did a good job just kind of pushing through that and weathering the storm."

The Hawks finished with 70 points in the paint and 20 on the fast break. Brooklyn had 48 and 4. The Nets turned it over 22 times, and Atlanta scored 28 points off those turnovers.

Daniels had 6 of the Hawks' 11 steals to go with 9 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists. Okongwu finished with 16 points, 5 assists, and 3 blocks. Alexander-Walker scored 20, and Flemings added 10 on 5-of-8 shooting.

Atlanta went 12-of-46 from 3-point range. Snyder is confident in his players to make open 3s, even through stretches when they do not.

"I think we still took our shots, which I think is important," Snyder said. "It didn't feel like we, well, we didn't say we're gonna stop shooting. I think because of that, the offensive glass, I don't know how many offensive rebounds we had. We were gonna be able to rebound some of those misses."

"And then I thought our guys also did a good job getting out in transition," Snyder continued. "Some of those paint points took place in the open court. We were [at] the rim. We haven't finished as well as we want to, so it was good to see that happen tonight."

Atlanta had 15 offensive rebounds and 24 second-chance points.

Porter scored 25 points with 9 rebounds for the Nets and went 3-of-11 from 3-point range. Julius Randle had 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 8 assists, along with 6 turnovers.

Johnson said Randle "imposes his will a lot" at the four and called him "a strong guy."

Traore scored 19 on 8-of-10 shooting and had 5 steals in 22:56. He did not play in the fourth quarter.

Sharpe finished with 12 points, 10 rebounds, and 13 assists. Wolf had 11 points and 10 rebounds, and Brooklyn outrebounded Atlanta 53-40.

The Nets fell to 2-7. They opened a four-game road trip in Atlanta and play at the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.

The Hawks host the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday at 7 p.m. ET.