The Hawks made 21 threes in Dallas. What carries into the season?

By Rodney Holloway

Analysis · Hawks

Twenty-one made threes and 36 assists made the Hawks’ preseason finale worth a closer look. A 135–111 win at Dallas on October 16 sent Atlanta into the regular season with a 4–1 exhibition record—and a useful question about how much of that offense could travel with it.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker led the way with 25 points, including six makes in 10 three-point attempts. Jalen Johnson added 20 points, 14 rebounds and three assists. Aaron Wiggins scored 19. Jock Landale supplied 16 points, six rebounds and five assists.

Atlanta went 21-for-51 from three, or 41.2 percent. The percentage comes from total makes divided by total attempts, not an average of the players’ individual shooting percentages. The credited player totals also show 36 assists against 13 turnovers.

For a team beginning a new season, that combination gives the opening film review a clear place to start: how the Hawks moved the defense, where the next pass went and what kind of shot it produced.

The assist count alone can’t answer all of that. A good pass becomes an assist only if the shot goes in, and Atlanta made plenty of them in Dallas. The more revealing possessions will be the ones in which the first action stalls. Can the next receiver keep an advantage alive, or does the ball stop while the defense recovers?

The volume of threes deserves the same attention. Fifty-one attempts tell us how that particular game ended. Reviewing the location of those shots, the contests and the time left on the clock would help explain whether the volume came from good opportunities or possessions that ran short of alternatives. Shot locations and defensive contests still need a separate film review.

Johnson’s work on the glass belongs in the picture as well. His 14 rebounds contributed to a 55–42 edge in summed player rebounds. That measure excludes separately recorded team rebounds. A useful follow-up would distinguish defensive boards that completed stops from offensive boards that bought another scoring chance.

The five-game record also needs its full shape. Atlanta lost 132–123 to Memphis, then beat San Antonio 123–116, Indiana 119–117 and Oklahoma City 113–110 before closing at Dallas. Three of those wins were decided by seven points or fewer. The 24-point Dallas win was the biggest margin, not a description of every night.

Across the preseason, Atlanta scored 613 points and allowed 586. That works out to122.6 points scored and 117.2 allowed per game, with a plus-27 total margin and a 5.4-point average margin. Those are exhibition results, not a league ranking, a regular-season average or a projected spread.

Orlando, Charlotte and two Houston dates were next on the schedule at the October 21 cutoff. Those games would begin to show whether Atlanta could keep creating the passing options and perimeter opportunities it found in Dallas once regular-season rotations took over.

Statistics

Dyson Daniels at an Atlanta Hawks meet-and-greet, January 25, 2025. Archive portrait, not game action. Photo: 404×404. Image source. CC BY 4.0; resized and displayed with crop.