Atlanta Hawks postgame reaction from first preseason contest

The Atlanta Hawks’ first preseason game is in the books, as they fell 96-90 to the Miami Heat, and Hawk fans got their first glimpse of what the team might look like this season.

What can we say, it’s preseason? The Atlanta Hawks just finished up training camp in Athens and are facing their first real opposition since their bow out of the playoffs to the Washington Wizards last season. The narratives from this first game were aplenty and it’s time to talk Hawks.

It was by no means a glamorous encounter in South Beach, but it provided both pros and cons for Mike Budenholzer and the coaching staff to look at and analyze. If nothing else, no one got too seriously hurt (with the exception of Miles Plumlee who left the game with a stiff right quad) and Coach Bud got an opportunity to see what worked and what didn’t.

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For starters, Budenholzer named a starting five of Dennis Schroder, Kent Bazemore, Taurean Prince, Ersan Ilyasova, and Dewayne Dedmon, which is how the Hawks are expected to start the season, barring any injuries of course. They seemed to have some good chemistry, as Schroder owned the lane and Bazemore and Dedmon worked well off each other in the pick and roll and in the two-man game.

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Ilyasova had a bright 16 minutes and change by going perfect from behind the arc (2/2) and building a rapport with fellow frontcourt man Dedmon. Big man Dedmon led the Atlanta scorers alongside Schroder, although he was much more efficient, shooting 5/7 from the field while Schroder put up 17 shots, only 6 of which found their way in.

Bazemore looked like his fully healthy self and seemed eager to get his teammates involved, dishing 3 assists, but going 0 from 3 on his field goals. His efforts on the defensive ends were also noted, as he was often matched up against Dion Waiters at the start, but would end up switching to another player as the Heat ran their offense.

Prince, unfortunately, did not have the night he would have hoped for. In nearly 22 minutes of play time he recorded only 3 points on 1/6 shooting and often was targeted on the defensive end as the Heat’s passing spun the Hawks in circles searching for the man with the ball. Coach Bud will definitely look for him to bounce back in the next game as he will be vital to the Hawks’ plans for the future.

In terms of struggles, it’s also worth noting that the Hawks got caught in transition by Miami a couple times and paid the price for it. On the other hand, they were very lively on the offensive transition, and an optimist might even say they looked like a budget version of the 7-second or less Suns!

Other noteworthy moments featured Schroder’s ability to get in the lane and dish to the open man for the three, Luke Babbitt being the recipient for a pair against his former team as he went 2/5 from downtown. Schroder would record 5 assists to bolster his 12 points, as he commandeered the offense for the 21 minutes that he was on the court.

Backup point guards Malcolm Delaney and Quinn Cook also showed great promise in their runs of 15 minutes and 10 minutes, respectively. Delaney looked very confident handling the ball and put up a cool 7 points while Cook looked eager to press during his time, contributing 9 points to the Hawks’ final tally.

And last, but not least, the man of the hour: John Collins. Hawks fans love this rookie, and he isn’t giving us any reasons to stop any time soon. 9 points, 15 rebounds, and a highlight dunk, all in the span of just under 20 minutes on the floor.

Coach Bud rotated his lineups quite a bit tonight and Collins spent a bit of time at the 5, resulting in a final +/- box score of -1, but the rookie showed promise against the likes of Hassan Whiteside and company. For starters, 5 of his boards came on the offensive end and he was lethal from the charity stripe, going 5/6 which was just shy of Marco Belinelli’s perfect 8/8.

Here you can see the official highlights of the game.

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The Atlanta Hawks may have lost the game, but fans will argue that they didn’t necessarily lose the night. We got to see firsthand our possible lineup of the future and the spectacle of Collins out-rebounding Whiteside; mind you Whiteside led the league in rebounds last season with 14.1. As far as first preseason games go, it wasn’t a bad one, and it might be more indicative of the season than people might think.