Hawks Outwork Pacers 107-102

Individually, the Hawks were led by standout performances from a few players, but let’s start with the efforts of John Collins.

Starting at power forward for the fourth straight game, Collins seemed to be back to his old self after a few duds since returning from the All-Star break. Collins impacted the game with some robust rebounds, and he actually led the Hawks in scoring with 16 points on 7 of 9 shooting. He also added 7 rebounds (including 4 OREBs), 2 assists and 2 blocks in 26 minutes of play.

John the Baptist was on it on this night, and he was a +9 box plus/minus in his minutes, which was pretty representative of his solid effort on both ends. It was good to see John playing with the same energy and dash he showcased earlier in the season – hopefully a portent of future performances.

Dewayne Dedmon also had a huge game, and he affected the evening’s proceedings in numerous ways.

Dedmon finished with 15 points on a hyper-efficient 6 of 8 shooting (including 3 of 3 from deep) along with 9 rebounds, 4 blocks, 2 steals and 1 assist.

Dewayne was everywhere on defense, and he used his towering 7-foot frame and immense length to great effect on the way to forcing turnovers and turning away shots at the rim with regularity, including a hilarious sequence in which he slammed a Domantas Sabonis shot right back into his own face, which promptly ended up in Dedmon’s hands.

Taurean Prince had another strong game, though he cooled considerably in the second half after a torrid start to the game. Prince had scored 13 points through the first 15 minutes of this game, including 3 of 3 from downtown.

The Prince That Was Promised finished with 15 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 1 block and a +6 BPM. When Prince doesn’t fall in love with his outside shot, he can be an effective option at the three, as he is able to use his size and athleticism to make plays and get opportunistic buckets.

Elsewhere among the starters, Kent Bazemore had a quiet night with 6 points, 5 assists and 2 steals in 26 minutes, though his +9 BPM made it clear his playing time was not in vain.

Dennis Schröder had a great game, one of his best in recent memory, and it was because he affected the game in ways other than his scoring.

When Schröd puts his head down and focuses solely on getting to the rack, he is limiting himself in ways that are not beneficial to himself or his team. In this game, Schröd had his cake and ate it too.

Though he still managed to get up 13 field goals, he scored only 14 points on those. When he realized he did not have his shot in the first half (a half in which he went scoreless), he instead opted become a pest on defense – and did so with aplomb by tying his career high with 5 steals, often leading to fast breaks like this one:

Every player who saw action in this game for Atlanta played at least 11 minutes, including rookie Jaylen Morris in his NBA debut, who scored 2 points with 2 rebounds in 11 minutes.

Mike Muscala had 12 points, 8 rebounds and a team-high +10 BPM in 20 minutes of play, though he did go 0 of 5 from beyond the arc. Musky made up for it, however, with this sweet, fly-by putback dunk:

Isaiah Taylor continued a hot stretch, as he scored in double figures for the fourth straight game by logging 13 points in 15 minutes to go along with 2 assists, 1 rebound, 1 steal and 1 block.

This was a refreshing win for Atlanta, and on a night that the Suns also won, Atlanta didn’t lose any ground in the tanking race.

Next: Tank Watch 2018: The Race for the Top Pick

The Hawks return to action in a tough matchup against the Golden State Warriors on Friday for a 7:30 p.m. EST tipoff.