Atlanta Hawks: What Went Wrong Versus Bulls? What’s next?

Turnovers

Another factor that doomed the Atlanta Hawks were turnovers. As I have mentioned in the past, 15 turnovers is around the most the Hawks can commit and still win a game. Against the Bulls, Atlanta surpassed that threshold by far, committing 22 turnovers.

Taurean Prince was the biggest culprit when it comes to turnovers. He turned it over six times. Rookie point guard Trae Young was right behind him with five turnovers, as he struggled to deal with the traps. His back court mate, veteran Kent Bazemore had four turnovers himself.

15 turnovers from the three perimeter starters is a recipe for disaster, and just can’t happen very often at all.

Solutions

The Atlanta Hawks must be alert for, and have a contingency plan in place, when teams decide to trap Trae Young in the pick and roll. Shooters must get to the right spots to give Trae an outlet. Young must remain poised and make the right choice when passing out of the trap.

Coach Lloyd Pierce should also run some off the ball sets to free Trae Young up when teams are trapping him. Kent Bazemore needs to be solid as a secondary ball handler in these situations as well. Nine turnovers by the starting guards are way too many.