Hawks past week left much to be desired; could this week turn the tides?

This season, the Hawks have trailed by double digits, but have often found ways to combat that. As of late, though, the Hawks just have not displayed the resilience that allowed them to get out to a 12-8 record in the first 20 games.

Since then, the Hawks have gone 8-16 over their last 24 games.

“I think there’s a number of factors,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said of Saturday’s loss. “We’re coming back from a pretty good stretch of games where I thought we didn’t have, talked about before the game, finding some juice. We didn’t have that. And I think when we talk about that, it manifests itself, just the competitiveness or urgency, whether it be up at the point of a screen, execution or someone makes the three, not running hard enough, where we get spacing and we can get to the rim. We didn’t run at all offensively.

“The beginning of the game, we didn’t have good possessions and took contested, midrange shots without moving the ball. That’s not who we are, that’s not how we play. So I think our commitment to some of those things offensively was lacking, especially early.”

Some of the Hawks’ struggles have come as the team tries to integrate CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert into the rotation. But many of their struggles began at least a month before the Hawks made the deal to acquire them.

Since Dec. 1, the Hawks have ranked among the worst ten teams in defensive rating. The Hawks began the season among the best in the league, which allowed them to run their offense.

That has continued this week, with the Hawks ranked 25th in defensive rating (121.3).

Though the Hawks have played with the league’s best pace, it has not resulted in shot-making. This week, the Hawks had the fourth-worst field goal percentage, making just 43.5% of their overall attempts.

Up ahead

Next week, the Hawks have three games scheduled against the Bucks, the Grizzlies and the Suns. Just one of those teams has a record above .500, with none of those teams ranked among the top six teams in their respective conferences.

Monday vs. Bucks

The Bucks currently rank 11th in the Eastern Conference and sit just 1.5 games behind the Hawks for 10th. Like the Hawks, the Bucks have lost three straight games and four of their last six. They’ve had the league’s sixth-worst offense over the last two weeks, according to Cleaning the Glass.

Even though Giannis Antetokounmpo returned to the Bucks’ rotation at the end of last month, the Bucks still average just 111.4 points per game.

On paper, the Hawks have an opportunity to get back onto the right side of the win/loss column with Monday’s meeting.

Wednesday at Grizzlies

Next Wednesday’s meeting against the Grizzlies will be the first between the two teams this season. But the matchup will be the Grizzlies’ first since returning to the U.S. after their European series against the Magic in Berlin and London.

The Grizzlies are one of the league’s better rebounding teams, ranking among the top five teams since Jan. 1. The Hawks, by comparison, have struggled on the glass.

The Grizzlies have won three of their last 10 games and are fresh off a win over the Magic on Sunday.

Friday vs. Suns

The Hawks won the first meeting against the Suns in November, after completing a 22-point fourth-quarter comeback.

But the Suns are just a few wins away from jumping into the top six in the Western Conference. The Suns have won six of their last 10 games and have the NBA’s third-best defense over the last two weeks and fifth overall this season.

The Suns don’t have the strongest offense. But their stifling defense has been enough to power them through.