Bogdan Bogdanovic's biggest game of the night at the Atlanta Hawks (41-37) didn't even count for his 122-115 win over the Brooklyn Nets. At 41–37, the Hawks have won five games in a row and have sole possession of the eight-seeded in the Eastern Conference. He got a big assist earlier in the day when the Philadelphia 76ers knocked out the Charlotte Hornets.
Now, the Hawks will have a few days off before taking on the Toronto Raptors who were in vain but still finished fifth with the Chicago Bulls' loss to the Miami Heat.
Trae Young shrugged off a sore to drop 36 points, including dagger three, and 10 assists with six boards. D'Andre Hunter tries to bolster his case for an extension this coming season with a 15-point, 10 rebound double-double.
Bogdanovic had to make his mark on the game in other ways.
Stat sheet won't fully show how good Bogdan was at Bogdanovic's game
The Hawks bench ace finished with just eight points, two assists and a rebound. It was a really brutal night off the floor, especially beyond the arc. He shot just 33.3 percent from the floor and was 0-for-6 from downtown. He lined up for a few free throws but ended up with two personal fouls and a turnover.
It is the second game in a row that Bogdanovic has shot 33.3 percent from the floor after scoring 11 points in a win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
He dropped 3-in-7 triples in at least that one.
His fade count stats only tell part of the story, however, as Bogdanovic finished as a game-high plus-15. That's right, in a game where his teammate at Young dropped 36 points—and Brooklyn's Kevin Durant had 55 points—it was Bogdanovic who came out on top.
The five-year NBA vet's second quarter had a particularly solid stretch. He turned on a pass, nets center Andre Drummond leapt with 10 minutes to cut the Hawks down 34-29 after a big man dunk. From that point on, the Hawks went 18-3 before being stopped by a Durant jumper.
In that period, Bogdanovic caught a rebound, found Delon Wright for a corner, hit two free throws, stole the ball, got Wright again for another three, and hit a jumper.
It took a total of 3:11 from that rebound until the Hawks were up 47-37.
He also hit a big bucket to extend them to three points in the fourth quarter with just over 2:00 on the clock.
Bogie's best play did not count as his three-pointer was waved along the shot clock winding.
Big Bogi pic.twitter.com/dVTaZYfYcJ
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) April 3, 2022
On defense, he was part of an attack that was tasked with stopping Durant, the best scorer in the NBA. While Brooklyn's final mismatch went for a double nickel, Bogdanovic was on the offensive, trying to make Durant uncomfortable - the only hope the teams have.
He did a great job picking up Nicholas Claxton in the mid-range.
These last two games broke a solid scoring stretch for Bogdanovic, where he averaged 24.2 points on 50.5 percent shooting and 47.9 percent from deep. He averaged 3.2 boards, 2.3 dimes and 1.7 steals with just 1.7 turnovers, helping the Hawks to four wins in six games.
However, we see that he can and will make an impact on the game. There's no better time than now for the guys to maximize their minutes, with only four games left.