Turnovers burn Hawks, fall to Timberwolves in Alexander-Walker’s return

Quick stats: McCollum finished with 38 points and four steals. Nickeil Alexander-Walker had 23 points, 12 rebounds and five assists.

Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards had 30 points, six rebounds and six assists, while forward Julius Randle had 18 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.

Key moment

The Pistons and Hornets weren’t the only teams to come to blows on Monday night. Early in the fourth quarter, Hawks forward Mouhamed Gueye and Timberwolves forward Naz Reid got into a scuffle and officials ejected both players.

With 11:52 to play in the game, Reid took exception with a hard push from Gueye as he pushed off a screen. Vincent, who was fighting under the screen to defend Timberwolves wing Jaden McDaniels, tripped Reid and the play stopped.

When Reid got up, he walked over to confront Gueye for the push, and the two ended up locking in on each other.

The Hawks had just ended the third quarter on a 12-2 run, cutting what was once a 31-point lead to 19.

Highlight play

The Hawks tried to chip away at the Timberwolves’ lead. So, when they could get the friendly bounce, they would take it.

Alexander-Walker found just that. With 8:50 to play in the game, Alexander-Walker came off a screen and pulled up at the top of the key for a 3. Alexander-Walker’s jumper bounced off the front of the rim, hit the backboard and then dropped into the net to cut the Hawks’ deficit to 120-103.

It was his first game back at the Target Center since signing with the Hawks in the offseason following three seasons with the Timberwolves.

What they said

“We didn’t make them uncomfortable enough for a lot of those shots. They were contested, but late. They just had too much space. They did a good job of moving the ball.” — Hawks coach Quin Snyder to FanDuel Sports’ Bob Rathbun on the team’s defense.

“We were struggling to get stops and just changing the tempo of the game, it felt like that could help us. Sometimes it just changes the rhythm of the game. Some of the shots that they were making, they didn’t make when we did that, and we were able to score.” — Snyder to Rathbun on the Hawks switching to a zone defense.

“Not to make excuses for anything; Gabe in particular, I thought, gave us really good minutes, and obviously CJ offensively was very good, but just across the board, we need to be better defensively, particularly in the first half. And you know that’ll get us out in transition, and we’ll be more efficient on the offensive end. We, you know, Jalen has been a big part of that, and obviously not having him and Dyson to push the ball. But as I said, I thought both CJ and Gabe did a good job filling in in that regard.” — Snyder on the Hawks having difficulties executing their offense.

Up next

The Hawks head to Charlotte, North Carolina, to face the Hornets on Wednesday in their final game before the All-Star break. The Hornets could have a couple of players absent in Miles Bridges and Moussa Diabate, depending on the league’s ruling following their roles in the altercation between the Hornets and Pistons on Monday.