Spectrum Center in Charlotte, December 2016. Photo by Matthew D. Britt, CC-BY-2.0, resized.

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Atlanta 128, Charlotte 81: how the Hawks built the biggest win in franchise history

Seventeen steals, 27 Hornets turnovers, seven Hawks in double figures and a sellout crowd booing its own team. Scroll through the 47-point night in Charlotte, quarter by quarter.

Chapter 1

Quarter by quarter

It started evenly enough. Charlotte forced an Atlanta turnover on the first possession and Moussa Diabaté dunked inside the first 27 seconds. That 2-0 lead was the Hornets’ last.

Atlanta scored 33 points in the first quarter and 35 in the second, and the margin grew in every quarter after that.

Atlanta's lead at the end of each quarter

After 1st (33-20)13

Halftime (68-43)25

After 3rd (97-62)35

Final (128-81)47

Largest lead49

0%of the game with Atlanta in front

0lead changes

0most Charlotte ever led by

0sellout crowd at Spectrum Center

Quin Snyder with the Hawks in March 2025. Photo by Floridagal17, resized.

Chapter 2

Twenty-seven turnovers

Atlanta picked up Charlotte’s ball handlers high on the floor and kept its best defenders on the ball. The Hornets turned it over 14 times in the first half alone, and the Hawks turned those into 15 points.

Charlotte also gave the ball away on the first possession of the second half.

0Charlotte turnovers (25 by players, 2 team)

0Atlanta points off those turnovers

0Atlanta steals

0Atlanta turnovers

“They were being physical, they were being aggressive and they were picking us up really high and trying to keep us on the sidelines.”

— Hornets guard Sion James

Where the points came from

Paint: Atlanta54

Paint: Charlotte34

Fast break: Atlanta19

Fast break: Charlotte6

Dyson Daniels at a Hawks event in January 2025. Photo by 404×404, CC-BY-4.0, resized.

Chapter 3

Seven steals in 23 minutes

Dyson Daniels did most of the damage. He played only 23 minutes and finished one steal short of his career high, with 11 points, nine rebounds, four assists and a block. Atlanta was plus-32 with him on the floor.

0steals

0points on 5-of-10 shooting

0rebounds, five offensive

+0plus-minus

“I think it starts defensively. Defensively, Dyson sets the tone. We all just match the energy.”

— Jalen Johnson, speaking on the broadcast after the game

Steals are what made Daniels’ name. After two seasons in New Orleans, he led the league with 229 steals, three a game, in his first year in Atlanta and won Most Improved Player for 2024-25. He has 12 in two games this season, five in the opener at Orlando and seven in Charlotte.

Dyson Daniels' steals by season

2022-23 (NOP, 59 games)43

2023-24 (NOP, 61 games)85

2024-25 (ATL, 76 games)229

2025-26 (ATL, 76 games)149

2026-27 (ATL, 2 games)12

Daniels after a pre-draft workout in June 2022. Photo by Hoop District, CC-BY-3.0, resized.

Chapter 4

Nobody over 19

No Hawk scored more than 19 points, and seven of them reached double figures. All five starters did. Atlanta assisted on 37 of its 48 baskets and shot 51% from the field.

Atlanta's double-figure scorers

Jalen Johnson19

Aaron Wiggins (7-of-9)19

Nickeil Alexander-Walker14

CJ McCollum13

Dyson Daniels11

Corey Kispert (4-of-5)11

Onyeka Okongwu10

0assists on 48 field goals

0%Atlanta field-goal shooting

0threes on 45 attempts

+0Alexander-Walker's plus-minus, best in the game

Johnson added eight assists and seven rebounds. Two nights earlier, in the opener at Orlando, Alexander-Walker scored 31 and hit two late threes in a 132-125 win that had 22 lead changes. Friday never got close enough for that.

State Farm Arena in Atlanta, March 2019. Photo by Bama in ATL, CC-BY-SA-4.0, resized.

Chapter 5

The record book

The 47-point margin is the largest win in Hawks history. It beat the 46-point win over Sacramento, 126-80, on Nov. 15, 2017.

It is still well short of the league record. Memphis beat Oklahoma City 152-79 on Dec. 2, 2021, a 73-point margin.

Margins for context

NBA record: MEM 152, OKC 79 (2021)73 pts

CLE 148, MIA 80 (1991)68 pts

New Hawks record: ATL 128, CHA 8147 pts

Old Hawks record: ATL 126, SAC 80 (2017)46 pts

2025-26Atlanta wins 46 games, then takes two games off the eventual champion Knicks in a first-round series.
Oct. 21, 2026Hawks open at Orlando and win 132-125 behind Alexander-Walker's 31.
Oct. 23, 2026Hawks win 128-81 in Charlotte on the first night of a back-to-back, a franchise record.
Oct. 24, 2026Home opener against Houston at State Farm Arena, 8:30 p.m. ET (3:30 a.m. Sunday in Cairo).

LaMelo Ball in a Hornets jersey. Photo by Erik Drost, CC-BY-2.0, resized.

Chapter 6

Boos in Charlotte

This was Charlotte’s home opener and its first home game since trading LaMelo Ball over the summer. The Hornets won 44 games last season and beat Brooklyn on the road on Wednesday. On Friday the crowd booed them off at halftime, and again after turnover after turnover.

Charlotte was without Kon Knueppel (hamstring), Coby White (calf) and Grant Williams (hamstring).

0%Charlotte field-goal shooting (30-of-87)

0threes made on 51 attempts

0points and 7 turnovers for Naz Reid

-0Brandon Miller's plus-minus (2-of-14, 1-of-11 from three)

“If you hear boos, you've got to be able to play better basketball. They are fans. They are entitled.”

— Hornets coach Charles Lee

The Hornets play at home again Saturday and Monday. Atlanta, 2-0 and unbeaten on the road, flies home for the second night of its back-to-back.

Two games into the season, the Hawks are 2-0 with a 54-point combined margin and a new franchise record. Daniels has 12 steals already, and seven different Hawks scored in double figures on Friday.

Next up is Houston twice in three days: at home on Saturday night, then in Houston on Monday.

Interactive: Hawks 128, Hornets 81 — 27 turnovers, seven Dyson Daniels steals and the biggest win in Atlanta history, step by step