Indiana
Atlanta Gives Up 157 Points in Season Finale to Indiana; Will Face Chicago In NBA Play In Tournament Wednesday
While they did not have anything to play for, the Atlanta Hawks were hoping to end their five-game losing streak and get a win vs the Indiana Pacers, a team they have not played well against all season. Indiana was hoping to remain in the top six in the Eastern Conference standings and did not want to lose to Atlanta.
The Hawks defense made sure that they did not have a chance in this game.
From the start of the game, the Hawks could not guard the Pacers, allowing Indiana to get anything they wanted. Atlanta did not play poorly on offense, but it was so bad on the other end of the court that they trailed for much of this game and ended up getting blown out. Atlanta ends its regular season on a six-game losing streak and they are not playing like a team that will inspire much confidence in the play-in tournament this week. This would be the second time this season that the Hawks gave up at least 150 points to Indiana.
Let’s recap today’s miserable afternoon.
The starting lineup for the Hawks today was Trae Young, Dejounte Murray, De’Andre Hunter, Bogdan Bogdanovic, and Bruno Fernando. Fernando got the start with Capela out.
Indiana started Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, and Myles Turner.
Atlanta has had trouble matching up with the Pacers this year and that was not more evident than in the first half of this game and more specifically the first quarter.
Indiana raced out to an 8-0 lead only two minutes in the game and before the Hawks knew it, they were trailing 31-15 and there was stil five minutes left in the quarter. It was an awful start defensively and Fernando had a tough start to the game on both ends. He picked up two quick fouls, which meant Mouhamed Gueye got in the game quicker than expected, but he made the most of his minutes. Gueye was the lone bright spot in the first quarter for the Hawks, scoring 10 points.
The problem was, the Hawks allowed Indiana to score an unthinkable 49 points in the first quarter, shooting 74% from the field and 55% from three. Myles Turner picked up some early fouls, but still scored 11 points, Siakam had 10 points and T.J. McConnell came off the bench to score seven. Indiana led 49-34 and Atlanta had no answers for them.
The second quarter was the Hawks’s best of the game by far and they got right back in the game. Atlanta got on a 16-3 run to cut the lead to one point, 62-61. The guy leading the charge for the Hawks was Murray, who would go on to score 20 points in the second quarter.
After Atlanta cut into the lead, Indiana went on another big run quickly and led 86-72 at the half. Atlanta scored 72 points in the first half, but trailed by double-digits at halftime. Everything about the first half defense was horrible, but it was only begining.
Atlanta shot 55% from the field and 44% from three in the first half. Murray had 22 points, Gueye had a career-high 13 in the first half, and Young and Bogdanovic had 10 each.
The numbers for Indiana’s offense were staggering. The Pacers shot 64% in the first half from the field and 45% from three. Turner had 18 points and eight rebounds, Siakam had 17 points, Haliburton had 12 points and eight assists, and McConnell had 12 off the bench.
The third quarter is where the game was officially put away.
The Pacers continued to punish the Hawks poor defense and the Hawks offense went cold. Atlanta shot 30% from the field and 20% from three, while the Pacers shot 70% from the field and 67% from three. The best thing to come out of the second half was that Trae Young surpassed Doc Rivers to become the all-time assist leader in Atlanta Hawks history.
The Hawks were outscored 39-21 in the third quarter and that was a wrap on the game. The starters played far longer than I would have thought in the fourth quarter, but the Pacers would roll over the Hawks for a 42 point win. It was an embarrassing final game for the Hawks and their 6th straight loss to end the regular season.
For the game, Atlanta shot 44% from the field and 33% from three. Murray led the way with 32 points, Gueye had 19 points, and Bogdanovic had 18. Hawks head coach Quin Snyder praised Gueye for his performance today, one of the few bright spots for Atlanta.
It will now be a do-or-die week for Atlanta. They will head to Chicago to play the Bulls in the first play-in game on Wednesday at 9:30. If they were to win that, they would face the loser of the 76ers/Heat matchup on Wednesday. If they win both games, they will travel to Boston to face the No.1 seeded Celtics for a first-round matchup.
Indiana
Police shoots man armed with knife in Gary, Indiana, officials say
A man wielding a knife was shot by a police officer on Sunday in Gary, Indiana.
A spokesperson for the city said officers responded to the 2100 block of Tennessee Street for a call of a suicidal man who was armed with a knife in his hand. The man had already stabbed himself a couple of times before they arrived.
Officers found the man in the east alley of 22nd and Ohio. At this time, he was standing in the alley still with the knife in his hand and refused to drop it as ordered by officers. The man then started to advance toward the officer, who shot the man three times in the arm, the spokesperson said.
The officer notified the department that shots were fired, and the man was down. The condition of the man is unknown as of Sunday night.
Other officers responded to the scene to set up a perimeter around the area. The Gary Fire Department and Lake County Crime Scene Investigation personnel were also contacted.
No further information was immediately available.
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress, get help from the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. Trained crisis counselors are available 24 hours a day to talk about anything.
Indiana
50+ Indiana counties under travel advisories after snow storm. See map
Safety and preparation are the keys to staying safe this winter
Officials talk about winter preparedness, safety, tips. Safety and preparation are the keys. Here are some tips.
At least 50 Indiana counties are under a travel advisory, and 20 counties were issued a travel watch for Dec. 14, following an overnight snow storm.
The Indiana Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) travel advisory map has each county shaded in red for a travel warning, orange for a travel watch, yellow for a travel advisory and gray for a county without an elevated status report on it’s current travel conditions.
Here’s how you can check your county to see where it lands on the map.
Travel advisory
According to DHS, a travel advisory is the lowest level of a related advisory.
“Routine travel or activities may be restricted in areas because of a hazardous situation, and individuals should use caution or avoid those areas,” the department says on its website.
Watch advisory
According to DHS, a watch advisory is issued when conditions are threatening to a county’s safety.
“Only essential travel, such as to and from work or in emergency situations, is recommended, and emergency action plans should be implemented by businesses, schools, government agencies and other organizations,” the department’s website states.
Warning advisory
According to DHS, a warning advisory is the highest level of a related advisory, where people may be told not to travel at all.
“Travel may be restricted to emergency management workers only,” the department’s website states.
Here’s the winter weather info you need
🚨 Indiana Weather Alerts: Warnings, Watches and Advisories.
⚡ Indiana power outage map: How to check your status.
💻 Internet outages: How to track them.
🚫 What you should and shouldn’t do when the power is out.
🐶 Your neighbor left their pet outside. Who you should call.
Indianapolis weather radar
Jade Jackson is a public safety reporter for the Indianapolis Star. You can email her at Jade.Jackson@IndyStar.com and follow her on X, formerly Twitter @IAMJADEJACKSON.
Indiana
What Darian DeVries, Tucker DeVries Said After Indiana Basketball’s Loss at Kentucky
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Indiana basketball coach Darian DeVries and senior forward Tucker DeVries met with reporters after the Hoosiers’ 72-60 loss to Kentucky on Saturday night at Rupp Arena in Lexington.
Here’s what the DeVries duo said during their near-seven-minute press conference.
Q: I guess, Darian, it’s sort of another night where it feels like it just kind of gets difficult to really break down an opponent off the dribble, kind of get that inside-out sort of paint touch to three looks you want, just like what, I guess, are you guys, what’s not happening there, what’s just kind of sort of failing at the source offensively when that’s not working?
DD: Yeah, I thought the first half, you know, we got some pretty good action, pretty good movement, I thought the second half, Kentucky certainly turned up the pressure and was able to get into us and we didn’t respond well enough and we turned the ball over too much and live ball turnovers against them are really hard because now they’re out in transition playing in space, so the turnovers and the offensive rebounding, I mean, that flipped the game around that second half.
Q: On Kentucky’s long run, what was the problem there?
Yeah, I thought the turnovers, it was a combination of things, I thought, you know, we left our feet a few times, I thought we just, you know, got on our heels a little bit and didn’t play as disciplined as we needed to, you know, as that, you know, the crowd got cranked up and things, that’s the time where you got to really dig in a little bit more, your screen’s got to be better, you got to play off of two feet more, and then the offensive rebounds, you know, they just went and got them and, you know, we didn’t do a good enough job of creating space and getting bodies and going and securing the ball.
Q: What do you think you need to improve on, the team needs to improve on against ball pressure at the point of attack?
DD: Yeah, the number one thing when you get at ball pressure is everything from an execution standpoint and a movement standpoint, it’s just got to be done with more force, you can’t continue just to get pushed out and everybody stands, so you have to find ways to give yourself up with a back hook, give yourself up with a screen, set up those screens with more force, you know, and get some movement to, you know, even as, you know, they had gotten ahead and we started to break it off a little bit, once we got movement again, we were able to get those clean looks or better looks, so it’s something we got to get better at, there’s no question.
Q: Tucker, your individual line tonight was really great, I mean, your effort was fantastic, 15 points, 7 rebounds, a lot of the three point shots tonight didn’t go down like they normally do for the Hoosiers, what do you think that is, was it just not seeing the basket as well, was it the defense, was it not in the offense where you were getting clean looks?
TUCKER DEVRIES: To be honest, making and missing shots, I thought tonight, honestly, wasn’t a problem, I know, certainly, I did not shoot it great, as a team we didn’t shoot that great either from three, but, you know, even with that being said, I think there were certainly areas that we needed to be a lot better at, as a group, and if we were able to, you know, especially in the second half, execute in those areas, I think that would have made up for some of those, you know, shooting habits and miscues, but, you know, making them missing shots sometimes is basketball, but I thought in the other areas, if we could just, you know, execute there a little bit.
Q: On that, if shots maybe weren’t the problem, what kind of was, do you think?
TUCKER: I mean, he hit on it pretty good, the turnovers and obviously the offensive rebounds they had, especially in the second half. I mean, I take full responsibility for both of those areas. Obviously, four turnovers is far too many. As a group, I think when they pick up the pressure, I think we just need to really focus on our execution a little bit more on every possession. But good thing is we get a good week here before we play again to really dial in on some of those areas that we’ve maybe lacked in the beginning.
Q: When Lamar picked up his fourth foul and missed nearly nine minutes, what went wrong offensively?
DD: Yeah, I don’t remember the exact sequences there, but, you know, not having Lamar out there is certainly a big part of our offense, and, you know, his foul trouble tonight certainly limited him with only the 21 minutes because he was, again, he’s, you know, a big focal piece of what we try to run our offense through, so, you know, I believe during that little stretch that he wasn’t out there, that’s when the turnovers started to happen and
we weren’t able to get into, you know, maybe some of our actions the way we needed to.
Q: Darian, you mentioned Kentucky’s offensive rebound and kind of flipping that game. Was that just their physicality, their effort out beating you guys or something else that you saw going on?
DD: Yeah, I thought their effort, their physicality in the second half was, you know, really good. I mean, they certainly cranked it up a notch in that second half and we needed to respond to it, but, you know, I thought their aggressiveness defensively, their aggressiveness in the offensive glass, you know, was ultimately the factor.
Q: Darian, you mentioned Lamar, but how much did the foul trouble for not just him, but other guys, affect you tonight?
DD: I mean, foul trouble is foul trouble. You have it every night, so you’ve got to figure out a way to deal with it and, you know, we just didn’t do a good enough job with that.
Q: Just to follow up on that, with this team, and you’ve talked about sort of where you are with the two bigs and things like that, like does foul trouble become sort of a compounding problem when it disrupts rotations? It felt tonight like maybe guys were just not either on the floor long enough to find the rhythm or maybe had to be on the floor too long because other guys were in foul trouble.
DD: Again, our guys, you know, their numbers are called, they’re ready to go. You know, certainly, you know, a guy like Lamar, you want him out there, but when he’s not out there, I feel very confident that the guys that are coming in are going to do their part and do their job and, you know, we certainly have a lot of faith in them, so, you know, unfortunately it just didn’t work out the way we wanted it to tonight.
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