‘That Will Be Our Identity’: Jock Landale Sees Defense Becoming Hawks’ Calling Card

The Atlanta Hawks forced 16 turnovers and came up with 11 steals at State Farm Arena on Monday night, beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 113-110 in a preseason game. Jock Landale had 3 of the steals and 2 blocks in 21 minutes.

Two of his steals came in the second quarter in a 13-second span, on consecutive bad passes by Thunder rookie Bennett Stirtz with just over a minute left in the half. The first turned into a Kingston Flemings dunk.

Landale talked through the plays at the podium after the game.

"Just repetition of the same stuff," Landale said. "They continued to kind of run that pitch action to the big in the middle of the court. So just having the confidence to kind of press up on that, knowing that that's what they were trying to get to, made it easy to read what they were doing. And then a couple of those steals just kind of fell into my lap, so I don't want to take too much credit for those."

"It's a fine line in preseason because things are called differently," Landale continued. "I would say they're a lot stricter. A couple of those blocks and stuff I had, I tend to be quite physical and knock someone off their balance and then block the shot, which they called [fouls] on me. So it's a fine line, but that's usually how I play defense. I try and knock people off their line, and then I can kind of dictate things from there."

Thunder rookie center Aday Mara had 6 assists. Oklahoma City sat all five starters and dressed nine players. Stirtz, Mara, Brooks Barnhizer, Josh Dix, and Otega Oweh started for the Thunder.

Memphis scored 132 points in the Oct. 5 opener, a 132-123 Hawks loss. San Antonio scored 116 three days later, and Indiana scored 117 on Saturday.

Landale's blocks came on an Oweh layup in the first quarter and a Zhaire Smith drive in the second. His third steal picked off a Mara pass in the third quarter. Corey Kispert blocked Oweh twice, and Asa Newell blocked Barnhizer twice, the second time on a dunk attempt early in the third quarter.

The Thunder were called for two shot-clock violations, and Stirtz committed three of their first-half turnovers. Jalen Wilson took a Mara pass early in the fourth quarter, and Kobe Johnson finished with 2 steals in about 10 minutes.

Dyson Daniels, who won Most Improved Player in 2025, rested Monday. So did Luguentz Dort, an All-Defensive First Team pick that same season with Oklahoma City, which traded him to Atlanta in July. Nickeil Alexander-Walker, the 2026 Most Improved Player, played 25 minutes.

Landale said Atlanta intends to pressure teams much farther up the floor than many NBA defenses.

"It's a really kind of high-octane, up-the-court defense, where a lot of teams throughout the course of the NBA season kind of fall back into just preserving," Landale explained. "It's the easiest way to keep fresh legs, is not picking up full court. We have structures now where we pick up full court, three-quarter court, and half court. We tend to err on the side of always being a full-court pickup team, just because we're so dynamic defensively with Nickeil, Dyson, Lu. Kingston's one that can get up and pressure full court as well."

"That will be our identity," Landale noted. "We've had some growing pains there initially, but I think the desire is there to be really good. We hope that offense is kind of the thing that's just the bonus for us, but what we hang our hats on is defense."

"We're so versatile in how we can defend teams, and we're strong, we're big, we're fast, so I think that's something that's going to continue to grow as we go," Landale added. "It's not perfect yet, and I think part of that is because we're picking up full court, so we really need to all be on the same page. That'll take a little while to get used to, but I think that eventually we're going to [muck] some stuff up, and I think it'll be really good for our group, hanging our hats on that."

Flemings, the eighth overall pick in June, had 3 steals in 19:50 off the bench in the Oct. 8 win at San Antonio.

Zuby Ejiofor, the 23rd overall pick, played 23 minutes off the bench Monday. With 2:02 left in the third quarter, he rejected Anthony Pritchard on a drive, and he finished with 15 points and 9 rebounds.

Ejiofor took questions at the podium as well.

"I think that's the kind of standard that we're trying to set each and every night, especially at the defensive end," Ejiofor said. "Getting stops and getting kills and getting [out in] transition. I think we're a great transition team once we secure the rebounds and stuff."

"I think we did a great job. Could have done better, but we did a great job in doing that," Ejiofor continued. "Like I said again, once we get kills, we're a really tough team to beat in transition."

Atlanta held Oklahoma City to 49 first-half points. The Thunder scored 31 in the fourth quarter, blocked 13 shots, and turned it over 16 times. The Hawks committed 12 turnovers and blocked 7.

Atlanta finishes the preseason Friday at the Dallas Mavericks. The regular season opens Oct. 21 in Orlando, with the home opener against the Houston Rockets on Oct. 24.