Hawks Fizzle Out in 4th vs. Magic

Dennis Schröder and Taurean Prince both finished this game with 19 points, and Prince’s scoring was especially impressive considering he did not scratch from the field in the first half.

TP carried the Hawks in the 4^th quarter, and he finished with a solidly efficient 7 of 12 shooting from the field (4 of 7 from three). The newly minted Rising Star game participant was also looking to distribute and racked up 5 assists in 30 minutes of action.

Schröd also stuffed the stat sheet, though his 5 of 15 shooting was far less efficient than Taurean’s. DS17 finished with those 19 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists, and +1 box plus/minus.

The rest of the starters looked pretty bad; Kent Bazemore’s shot was not falling, though he did contribute in other areas, as his final stat line contends: 6 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 blocks, 1 steal.

Miles Plumlee was a total non-factor in this game, as his inability to do almost anything on both offense and defense continues to be a problem for the Hawks. Plumlee was a game-worst -11 BPM in way too many minutes – 18 to be exact.

Coach Bud had been playing Plumlee about half that in prior games, and it would probably be best if he was not in the rotation at all. But hey, why not truly embrace the tank in the final year before draft lottery reform, right?

As usual, the bench provided much of the spark Atlanta needed to keep this game watchable.

Tyler Dorsey continued a string of strong games and notched 11 points on a career-high 5 made field goals. Dorsey also looked good on the glass, nabbing a career-high 5 boards to go along with 3 assists. TD was a +2 BPM in 24 minutes played, and his highlights showcase a varied offensive game that’s worth keeping an eye if you’re a Hawks fan:

https://twitter.com/ATLHawks/status/961778883690287104

Though Dewayne Dedmon had the highest box plus/minus in the whole game with a +9, he ended up taking a career-high 8 attempts from downtown – the last of which was a terrible, lumbering stepback that had absolutely no chance of going in.

It’s nice that Dedmon has morphed into a stretch five, but that doesn’t mean he necessarily has to take as many three-pointers as possible. He hit only 2 of those 8 attempts and finished with 8 points on 3 of 11 shooting overall.

As always, John Collins provided terrific play on offense, although his defense was a bit spacier than usual on this night (even if he did pin this shot to the backboard):

JC was 1 point away from having two straight double-doubles, but he did not quite have the inevitability in his finishing on this night and logged only 9 points on 4 of 9 shooting. He did hit one corner three, however, and notched 12 rebounds (8 DREBS, 4 OREBS), 2 blocks, 1 steal and a +7 BPM in 25 minutes.

It wouldn’t be a discussion of John Collins without a dunk that deserves all the honorifics, and in this case, it came in the 4^th quarter:

The ease with which Collins can springboard into a highlight dunk is truly breathtaking. Never change, John.

Next: Luke Babbitt Traded in Quiet Deadline for Hawks

The Hawks are back in action against the new-look Cleveland Cavaliers tomorrow for a 7:30 p.m. EST tipoff, though it is unclear whether any of those newly acquired players will suit up for that game.