ATLANTA — When asked what it has been like to play four NBA games in six days, rookie Zaccharie Risacher had a succinct response:
“I’m tired.”
Risacher should have been fatigued after enjoying the biggest night of his young career during the Atlanta Hawks‘ 121-116 victory over the New York Knicks on Wednesday night. He filled up the box score with 33 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocked shots. The 33 points is the most by a rookie this season and easily bested his season high of 17 points.
According to ESPN Research, Risacher, 19, also joined Victor Wembanyama, Kevin Durant, LeBron James and Lamar Odom as the only players to have 30 points and multiple blocks and steals in a game before they turned 20. Risacher is the only one of those players to also have had five 3-pointers.
Risacher, who was this year’s No. 1 draft pick, has started the past seven games after De’Andre Hunter‘s knee injury and has had mixed results to date. He entered the game shooting 21.1% from 3-point range and 32.9% from the floor. Hawks coach Quin Snyder has encouraged Risacher to keep shooting through his ups and downs.
“He basically tells me to shoot the f—ing ball,” Risacher said. “That’s not just from him. That’s from everybody on the coaching staff and my teammates. It helps with my confidence.”
Risacher drained 6 of 10 3-pointers and was 11-of-18 from the field. He was 5-of-7 from deep in the first half alone. Risacher also showed his driving ability, at one point finishing an attack from the corner with a left-handed floater in the lane.
Risacher made a key basket late, tying the score at 110-110 with 1:31 to play. With Trae Young being double-teamed, Risacher cut to the foul line, caught a pass from Young and hit the clutch shot in the lane.
“We’ve practiced that,” Young said. “He went to the middle. I knew where to find him, and he knew to turn around and score if [Karl-Anthony Towns] didn’t step up. And if he did, Clint [Capela] was behind him to catch the lob. Zac made a hell of a play. That was a big possession for us.”
After the game, Snyder said the players were thrilled for Risacher in the locker room because they understand how difficult the opening weeks and months can be when starting an NBA career.
“It made me super happy to see how people reacted to me being good,” Risacher said.
Risacher is now leading all rookies with 12 points per game, and he boosted his 3-point shooting to 27%.
“His progress isn’t going to be linear,” Snyder said. “He’s got to stay at it. We have confidence in him if he makes shots or he doesn’t. Today, he was really good on the defensive glass, as well.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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