Taurean Prince shines as Hawks dominate Grizzlies en route to third straight win
The Atlanta Hawks are on a three-game winning streak after their Saturday night destruction of the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Atlanta Hawks are officially on a roll.
On Saturday night, they claimed their third straight win against the Memphis Grizzlies in a dominant team performance. This game was, pretty much, a blowout from the get-go, as the Hawks cruised to a 107-90 win over a team that looked totally disinterested.
This may have been one of the best performances of the season for the Hawks from a team standpoint and that all happened with Dwight Howard taking the night off for rest.
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The team shot 50% from the floor and from three-point range while having seven scorers score eight or more points. They also held the Grizzlies to only 17% from three-point range, doing a better job of defending the perimeter. There were also a couple of players that had their best performances as members of the Hawks on this night.
Taurean Prince, the No. 12 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, led the team in scoring a career-high 17 points on only six field-goal attempts. He also provided terrific energy off of the bench, as he always does. It was an impressive, efficient showing by the rookie, who showed his potential of being the small forward of the future for Atlanta.
Jose Calderon had, by far, his best game as a Hawk. Calderon scored 14 points off of the bench in only 19 minutes. He was the backup point guard that the Hawks have been looking for in this game and if he can play close to that level, the Hawks are in good shape.
Speaking of point guards, Dennis Schroder put together another good performance in this game. After an offensive outburst on Friday night, Schroder displayed some more all-around skills in this game.
He scored 16 points but also grabbed seven rebounds, dished out eight assists, and had three steals. He committed six turnovers and was wild at times but much of them were when the game was not close. Schroder showed playmaking ability on both ends of the floor, for himself and others.
As for the usual suspects, Paul Millsap and Tim Hardaway Jr. were solid. Millsap scored 16 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, and had six assists. It was a typical, reliable performance by the four-time All-Star. Hardaway just played within the flow of the game and had eight points on 60% shooting, and did not force anything. Ersan Ilyasova also had nine points.
The Hawks did give up 50 points in the paint in this game, which can be related to the absence of Howard. Who knows how badly this would have been for Memphis with better paint protection?
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Nonetheless, this was a terrific performance by the birds. They controlled this game throughout and broke the will of a legitimate playoff team in the Western Conference.