Hawks' Garrison Mathews shares heartfelt reaction to career game vs. Timberwolves
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ATLANTA – The Atlanta Hawks needed another scoring punch off the bench against the Minnesota Timberwolves with Bogdan Bogdanovic ruled out for the game, and Garrison Mathews came in and gave them what they needed. Mathews, who hasn’t been consistently in the rotation for a while, scored 25 points and shot 7-of-8 from three.
After the game, Mathews shared that he’s always stayed prepared for the moment, regardless of how many minutes he’s playing or if he’s even in the rotation.
“This is nothing new for me,” Mathews said. “This is my sixth year in the league. I've seen everything. I've started, I've not played, played little minutes, played a lot of minutes. We've got a lot of great player development coaches.”
Head coach Quin Snyder spoke highly of how Mathews continues to stay prepared for the moment.
“You're not surprised when he makes that many threes because we really believe in him,” Snyder said. “Usually, that doesn't happen, and for that to be the case after being out for a significant amount of time it's a credit to him and the work he continues to put in whether he's playing or not. He was ready.
“Being dialed into the game plan, whether you're playing or not, and keeping your mind ready because you don't know when that moment is going to come.”
Hawks defeat the Timberwolves behind strong 4th quarter
The Hawks came out strong in the first quarter against the Timberwolves, leading 35-19 going into the second quarter. Things didn’t go well for them in the second quarter, as the Timberwolves got aggressive on defense and started knocking down shots themselves. Trae Young returned after not playing in the Hawks’ previous game against the Memphis Grizzlies, and it was obvious that what he brings on offense was missed, as he went into halftime with 16 points.
The third quarter was even between both teams, but it was the fourth quarter where the Hawks went back to what has made them successful over the past few weeks, which is their defense. Dyson Daniels’ job was trying to contain Anthony Edwards tonight, and he did just that, holding him to 16 points on 7-of-20 shooting. Daniels also finished the game with eight steals, which was high for them this season.
“I think it was our team defense on Ant,” Daniels said. “We changed up our coverage a little bit to a show with Clint Capela and Larry.”
“Our defense has been real good these past few weeks so we've been doing real great on that end,” Trae Young said. “The offense has been lacking but we had some shots to go in and our defense stayed with us.”
After a three-game losing streak, the Hawks are back in the win column going into Christmas, and they’ll look to extend it after the break as they take on the Chicago Bulls next.
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