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Grading Every Atlanta Hawk In Their 129-117 Loss to the Miami Heat

How did the Hawks perform in their loss to the Miami Heat on Wednesday night?

Oct 28, 2026; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Kingston Flemings (4) dunks the ball against the Miami Heat during the second half at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The good thing about the NBA is that you only have to stew over a loss for a short period of time before moving on to the next challenge and trying to bounce back.

The Atlanta Hawks are going to be doing that tonight when they host the Cleveland Cavaliers, but until that game tips off, there is still plenty to break down from their third straight loss. The Miami Heat came into the game 0-4, but they outmuscled the Hawks on the glass, scored 70 points in the paint, and got big games from Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bam Adebayo to push Miami past Atlanta.

So how did each player perform last night?

Starters

CJ McCollum: C-
Nickeil Alexander-Walker: B
Dyson Daniels: C-
Jalen Johnson: D
Onyeka Okongwu: D

It was not a good night for the Atlanta Hawks starting lineup.

Alexander-Walker clearly played the best of the group last night, scoring 23 points and shooting 5-for-9 from three. His defense was fine and it was a solid game, but far from his best.

CJ McCollum did not close the game for the Hawks, as he was outplayed by another guard who came off the bench (more on him later) and there was not an impact made by the veteran guard. He finished with 13 points on 6-for-9 shooting and did not do much else in terms of rebounding or playmaking.

Daniels has scored 11 points combined over the past two games against the Heat and the Rockets, showing what little impact he has made in terms of scoring. He also had seven rebounds and four assists in this game and had to guard Giannis Antetokounmpo, but he was -17 in his minutes and just did not have a good night.

Okongwu continued his struggles last night, scoring 11 rebounds and pulling in four rebounds and only shooting 1-for-3 from three. While not all his fault, Miami punished the Hawks in the paint and on the glass. Simply put, Atlanta needs more from Okongwu.

Then there's Jalen Johnson.

Johnson has not had a great season so far and last night was his worst game of the year by a margin. He did not shoot the ball well yet again, finishing with 12 points and 11 assists on 4-for-12 from the floor, and he did not play well. He was a -23 in his minutes and he was ineffective the whole way through. It is tough to win games when your best player plays like this.

Bench

Kingston Flemings: A
Lu Dort: C
Jock Landale: D
Aaron Wiggins: C+

Most nights this season, it has been the Aaron Wiggins show for the Atlanta Hawks, but last night against the Heat, it was the Kingston Flemings show.

Flemings was arguably the only real bright spot for the Hawks against Miami. He shot 9-for-12 from the field, including 3-for-5 from three, scoring 23 points while also pulling in five rebounds and handing out five assists. Flemings was awesome in this game and this is what Atlanta needed to see from him on both ends of the floor

The rest of the bench was pretty plain, even bad in some cases.

Wiggins had his worst game as a Hawks, scoring 10 points on 4-for-11 shooting and going 2-for-7 from three. Dort scoring eight points and finished with a neutral plus/minus, but he shot 3-for-11 and struggled when having to play the backup power forward.

Landale hasd the worst night of anyone on the bench. He did have 10 points and six rebounds, but the defense was a major problem and he is still not hitting three-point shots. Atlanta is not getting good center play from either Okongwu or Landale and that has to change if this team wants to be as good as projected.

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