Hawks go cold in second half, lose to Nets 110-90

The Hawks were back in action Monday night when they traveled back home to Philips Arena to face off against the Brooklyn Nets just two days after beating them in Brooklyn. The Hawks were looking to go 2-for-2 in a home and home against the young Nets.

The Hawks inactives for Monday’s game once again included Dewayne Dedmon, who has been sidelined with a stress reaction in his left tibia and could be out two-to-three more weeks. Also injured last week was the rookie John Collins, who is suffering from a sprained left AC Joint and is also expected to be out two-to-three weeks. Also, Mike Muscala has not been practicing of late after continuing his recovery from an ankle injury, but should be cleared to resume practice soon.

In the first quarter, both teams came out firing and exchanged 9-0 runs in the early action. The Hawks turned to Dennis Schroder for offense as he was getting all he could eat against Spencer Dinwiddie. The Nets also ran their offense through their point guard as neither could stop the other and Dinwiddie came out of the first quarter with nine points and three 3-pointers as the Nets took the lead at the end of the quarter 33-32.

In the second quarter, both teams turned up the intensity on defense. In particular for the Hawks it was DeAndre’ Bembry and Taurean Prince playing some tremendous defense with both creating some offense as well. The Hawks clamped down on the 3-point line and took a lead into halftime of 54-53.

In the third quarter things really fell apart for the Hawks as they were on the wrong end of a 17-0 run to open the quarter. The Hawks did not hit a field goal until there was just under 5 minutes remaining in the quarter. The Nets took advantage big time with Caris LeVert leading the way to a 31-point quarter for the Nets, holding the Hawks to just 15 in the third. The Nets found themselves in the lead going into the fourth 84-69.

In the fourth quarter there was more of the same bad play from the Hawks on both ends as the Nets continued to rain down 3-pointers. The Hawks big men had an abysmal night as a unit and the Nets took advantage inside with rookie Jarrett Allen scoring 11 and Trevor Booker nearing a double-double. Malcolm Delaney did get into the game in the fourth quarter, along with Tyler Dorsey, after not playing in the last two games for the Hawks and both scored in the closing minutes.

The Hawks will travel to Orlando and face off against the Magic Wednesday night. Stay tuned.