The Hawks are 9-13 following their loss to the Nuggets on Monday night.

Tonight’s contest in State Farm Arena pitted two teams on three-game losing streaks. The Hawks have struggled for a few weeks, but the reigning champion Denver Nuggets have dropped three in a row and two-time MVP Nikola Jokic has had two terrible shooting games in a straight. He was going up against a Hawks club that had one of the weakest defenses in the NBA and was without two starters. 

De’Andre Hunter was classified as questionable on the injury report but was declared out a couple of hours before kickoff. Garrison Matthews started in Hunter’s stead, along with Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, Saddiq Bey, and Clint Capela. 

Denver’s starters were Jamal Murray, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Michael Porter Jr, Aaron Gordon, and Nikola Jokic. 

With the Hawks without two starters, I expected Bogdan Bogdanovic to play a lot of minutes tonight, and one thing was certain: Atlanta would have to win the minutes Jokic was not on the floor. I believed the Hawks’ bench strength would give them an advantage against the Nuggets, but Denver’s reserve was one of the tales of the first half. 

However, the Hawks performed about as well as they could have hoped in the first quarter. 

The Hawks’ defense was strong right away, and the three-point shot was dropping for Atlanta rather than Denver. When Jokic was on the court, he did not dominate, and the Hawks offense was off to a good start. After the first quarter, they led 36-28, with Young leading the way with nine points and four assists. Bogdanovic came off the bench and scored nine points in huge minutes. 

In the first quarter, the Hawks shot 61.9% from the field and 60% from three. Denver shot 44.4% from the field but only 25% from behind the three-point line. Jokic finished the game with eight points, two rebounds, and one assist. The Nuggets were doing the majority of their damage in the paint, outscoring Atlanta 18-12. 

The Hawks’ lead began to dwindle in the second quarter, and Jokic was not the primary reason. Julian Strawther scored 19 points off the bench in the first half, making five of his seven three-point attempts. In the second quarter, the Nuggets outscored the Hawks 37-26 and lead Atlanta 65-62 at the half. 

Atlanta shot 51.1% from the field and 42.9% from behind the three-point line. Young finished with 14 points and five assists, while Bogdanovic led the squad with 16 points. In the first half, he played nearly 17 minutes. 

In the first half, Denver shot 55.1% from the field and 40% from three. Strawther had 19 points, while Jokic had 12 points, three rebounds, and six assists. 

Denver had taken control of the game from the first quarter. After leading by three points at halftime, the Nuggets went on a 17-9 run to grab an 11-point lead with six minutes remaining in the third quarter. 

It was only going to get worse from there. The Nuggets outscored the Hawks 39-24 in the third quarter and led by 18 at the start of the fourth. 

Young’s ejection was the worst part of the third quarter. He was arguing calls and got a technical foul, which prompted Quin Snyder to argue about why the ref gave him one, and Snyder got one as well. Young argued the call further, received a second technical, and was expelled. Young’s ejection effectively ended any possibility of an Atlanta comeback. 

Atlanta, to their credit, clawed back from a large hole to trim the score to seven points with 1:45 remaining in the game. However, Jokic hit a pair of free throws to give the Nuggets a more comfortable advantage. 

So it seemed. 

Atlanta fought back, and Bogdanovic was not going down without a fight. He scored his ninth three-pointer of the game, and the fans erupted. With less than a minute remaining, Atlanta forced a turnover, and a foul sent Bey to the line. He split the pair, and the Nuggets regained possession of the ball. 

The Hawks were unable to complete the spectacular comeback and fell for the fourth time in a row, slipping to 9-13 on the season. 

Atlanta shot 45.8% from the field and 38.6% from three in the contest. Bogdanovic finished with 40 points, including ten three-pointers. Murray had 21 points, while Bey had 16. 

Denver shot 53.4% from the field and 41.4% from three-point range on the night. Jokic ended with 25 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists. Murray led the way with 29 points, while Strawther added 22 off the bench. 

Atlanta will travel to Toronto for back-to-back road games against the Raptors before returning to Cleveland for another road game against the Cavs.