Kingston Flemings Credits Jock Landale For Making His Job Easier With Hawks

Kingston Flemings and Jock Landale have been on the same side of the floor since the summer. Through four preseason games, the Atlanta Hawks rookie point guard and the 30-year-old center have started showing up in the same defensive possessions.

With 1:12 left before halftime in Monday's 113-110 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, Landale took a Bennett Stirtz pass away and fed Flemings for a dunk. Landale led Atlanta with 17 points, six rebounds, and five assists. Flemings finished with seven points and seven assists in 28 minutes, shooting 3-of-11.

Atlanta played that game with nine players ruled out. Flemings made his second preseason start.

He talked about the pairing after the Hawks practiced Wednesday, two days before the preseason finale in Dallas.

Landale has been around for every one of those offseason sessions. The two kept ending up on the winning team.

"Since I've been down here for OTAs, Jock's been here. We've been on the same team every single day, when we had the most wins in OTAs, we play together in games," Flemings said. "So we kind of have a good chemistry going on. I kind of know what he's saying. He's a loud talker."

Flemings said Landale's communication helps him be more aggressive at the point of attack.

"So having a big like that who talks a lot definitely helps. And me being a point guard, [I'm] trying to be pesky at the point of attack. Try to get the turnover," Flemings continued. "That's what I'm on the court for. So we've been doing pretty good at it."

Atlanta acquired Landale from the Utah Jazz on Feb. 4, a day after Memphis traded him to Utah in an eight-player deal. He averaged 9.1 points and 4.1 rebounds in 23 regular-season games with the Hawks.

Across 68 games with Memphis and Atlanta last season, Landale set career highs with 10.6 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. He missed Atlanta's playoff series against the New York Knicks with a sprained right ankle.

He re-signed in the summer on a one-year, $14 million deal. The Hawks declined Jonathan Kuminga's $24.3 million team option the same week.

Flemings led Houston in steals as a freshman and averaged 1.5 per game in 37 games. At camp in Nashville, he said defensive rotations were the area that challenged him most.

Preseason has been faster than anything in practice. He still likes it that way.

"It's been good. I mean, we've always been playing pretty fast, but when you get in the game, pace was crazy," Flemings explained. "I've been getting tired some of those times. It's been a good rotation. It's been good fun out there, and I enjoy playing fast. So I'm on the right team for it."

"So it's been good playing with my guys, getting better every single day," Flemings added. "So it's been fun."

The Hawks forced 22 turnovers and scored 30 points off them in the 123-116 win at the San Antonio Spurs on Oct. 8. Flemings had three steals that night off the bench.

Two days later, he scored eight points in the 119-117 win at the Indiana Pacers. He opened the preseason with 11 points on 4-of-11 shooting in a start against the Memphis Grizzlies.

Five games make up the exhibition schedule. Flemings treats them the same as the games coming after them.

"Kind of the same. Honestly, I've been taking these [preseason games] like the regular-season games," Flemings said. "Obviously as a rookie, coming in here, just trying to prove myself every single game. So it's been good. We had a good practice today. So just constantly trying to get better as the season goes on."

The Hawks are 3-1 in the preseason. They close it Friday against the Dallas Mavericks at 8 p.m. ET at American Airlines Center.

Atlanta opens the regular season in Orlando on Oct. 21, with tip-off against the Magic set for 7 p.m. ET.