Rookies Combine for 25 Points as Hawks Blast Grizzlies 108-82

The Atlanta Hawks were coming off a thrilling last-minute victory against the New York Knicks on the road, and they continued their momentum by blowing out the Memphis Grizzlies at home by a final margin of 108-82.

The Grizz were truly awful, and their effort level was exceedingly low. The away team looked disengaged and uninterested, as evidenced by this wide-open putback dunk from Miles Plumlee after only 65 seconds of playing time:

That play was pretty representative of the entire performance from Memphis on this night, as their offense was a disheveled mess. Though Atlanta only shot 8 of 25 from deep (32%), the Grizzlies shot a putrescent 4 of 22 from downtown (18.2%).

Where the Grizzlies truly lost this game was with their turnovers. The away team coughed up the ball a season-high 25 times, and the Hawks were capitalizing on those misses with 26 fast break points, like this easy dunk off a Taurean Prince steal:

In years past (and even at times this season), the Hawks have played down to inferior competition, but on this night, Atlanta stepped on the throat of a lesser opponent and dominated them in every facet of the game.

Individually, almost every player on the Hawks roster contributed a highlight play or had an overall good game. To that, every active Hawks player scored on this night, with no Hawk scoring less than 4 points – now that’s balance.

Let’s start with Dennis Schröder. Schröd had a great game, and he was working hard early on both ends of the floor. The Grizzlies had no answer for Schröder, who was flying into the lane for easy layups or popping out via a pick-and-roll for midrange jumpers – his bread-and-butter shot.

DS17 finished with a game-high 22 points on 9 of 15 shooting with 5 assists, 3 rebounds, 1 block, 1 steal and a game-high +27 box plus/minus… in only 24 minutes. Yeah, it was that kind of a night.

Schröder also made this slick between-the-legs pass that led to a rim-rattling Dewayne Dedmon dunk:

https://twitter.com/ATLHawks/status/961050866001182720

The bench shone brightly on this night – outscoring the starters 56-52. Three bench players scored in double digits, and, again, every Hawks player that hit the court scored at least 4 points in this game.

John Collins notched a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds (3 OREBS, 7 DREBS) with 1 assist, 1 steal and a +5 BPM. Collins could’ve easily had more points, as he missed back-to-back free throws and also missed two point-blank shots around the rim in the 1^st quarter – something he had seemingly ironed out of his game.

JC more than made up for those early misses by dominating the game in the second half – typified by this play, in which he fights through traffic for a tough offensive rebound and then simply rises up and slams down a one-handed jam with defenders all around him (though they put up little resistance):

Great stuff from the rook – though somehow all of these dunks did not qualify him for the dunk contest.

Speaking of great play from rookies, Tyler Dorsey played the most minutes in his young career by notching a team-high 28 minutes. Dorsey contributed big plays in those minutes early, highlighted by this pogo-stick alley-oop finish received from Dennis Schröder:

Once the game was out of hand and the starters were being rested, TD was given the reins of the offense as the primary ballhandler and he looked sharp in that role, dishing out a career-high, team-high and game-high 7 assists. One of those dimes was this rookie-to-rookie connection with JC in the 4^th quarter:

Dorsey ended up with 10 points, 7 assists, 2 steals, 1 rebound and a +13 BPM in those 28 minutes. This was definitely a solid game for Dorsey, who continues to impress in numerous areas. His playmaking ability and touch around the rim are both quite advanced for a rookie, and he is not shy about putting up shots from distance.

Though Collins has received most of the headlines this season for the Hawks, Dorsey continues to look like a solid player going forward for Atlanta in the first year of this rebuild.

Last but not least, Dewayne Dedmon had a strong scoring game – with 11 points on only 5 of 6 shooting with 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block and a +14 BPM. Dedmon’s jump shot was looking beautiful on this night, even from distance, as he drained a smooth, above-the-break three from a Schröder pass:

This was a great night for the Hawks, and a truly appalling one for the Grizzlies. Hey, we’ve been on the receiving end of these quite a few times this season, so it was nice to flip the script.

Next: Atlanta Hawks Trade Probabilities at the Deadline

The Hawks return to action Thursday for a 7:00 p.m. EST tipoff against the Orlando Magic.