Hawks Fall to Bucks 122-117, Prince Drops 38 (Again)

In what has become a common refrain, Taurean Prince balled out of his mind in this game.

After setting a career-high in points (38) against the Bulls last Sunday, Prince decided to celebrate that anniversary by hitting that same number one Sunday later.

The Prince That Was Promised took over this game late, scoring 24 of his 38 in the second half. Though his three-point stroke was not quite as wet as it was last weekend, TP’s aggressiveness and confidence could not be shaken as he drove with purpose to the rim through the length and strength of Milwaukee’s front line.

Though John Henson’s defense was matadorian at best, Giannis and Thon Maker put up a strong fight in the paint and Jabari Parker was a hulking figure down below as well.

None of that mattered to Taurean, as he finished 9 of 13 from two-point range, with many of those makes coming after Eurostepping past one of those lanky defenders and finishing over them or in spite of their defense.

Taurean looked terrific in the late stages of this tilt, and he even had a great chance to tie the game at 118 with 36.9 left on the clock. He got a little separation and put up a deep three, which looked great out of his hands, but just went in-and-out. The game was over soon after that.

Hopefully this hot streak continues for the rest of the season for TP and into next season. More optimistically for Hawks fans, let’s hope this is the player that Taurean is on offense, as he is a true pleasure to watch when he’s on it like this.

Must Read: Taurean Prince is Playing Like an All-Star

John Collins also had a strong game, but it comes with a major caveat: With 8:03 left in the 4^th quarter, Collins went up for a three-pointer but was not allowed to come down cleanly, as Giannis was standing right there. The Greek Freak was given a Flagrant 1 foul and Collins was awarded three free throws.

In a big spot and clearly hobbled, JC confidently stepped to the line and sank all three throws. What a trooper. Collins did not return to the game and the injury is being called a left ankle sprain. No word is available yet on the severity of the injury.

For his in-game action, Collins was terrific — like he has been all season. Matched up with the frankly freakish figure of Giannis, JC managed to get 15 points on 6 of 8 shooting with 12 rebounds in 26 minutes – his eighth double-double of the season.

JC was putting in his usual work on the offensive glass, and he had a strong OREB and one-hand putback dunk in traffic. His athleticism was also apparent, as he sprinted down the floor and completed a difficult layup off of this no-look, 3/4-quarter outlet pass from Taurean:

Let’s hope that ankle injury isn’t serious, as Collins is an important player for Atlanta the rest of this season and going forward into the rebuild. His +13 box plus/minus was the highest in this game for either team and was fully representative of his outstanding contributions.

Dennis Schröder had a nice back-and-forth going with Eric Bledsoe, whose scrappy defense seems to annoy most opposing point guards, and DS17 finished with 18 points on 6 of 13 shooting with 9 assists and 3 rebounds.

Schröd fouled out of this game, though 2-3 of those calls were 50-50 at best. Dennis was clearly not pleased with the officiating, as he got called for a technical foul as he left the court after committing his sixth personal.

Dewayne Dedmon, starting at center, played 31 minutes and collected a do-everything stat line of 10 points (3 of 7 shooting), 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks. With Collins out, Dedmon was tasked with doing a lot more, which led to a game-high 5 turnovers as well as 3 personal fouls.

Finally, the Hawks had a trio of 7-point scorers off the bench.

Isaiah Taylor was, as always, hyper-aggressive driving to the rack and picked up 5 of his 7 points at the free throw line. Taylor also had the only missed free throw for Atlanta on this night, as the team went an astounding 27 of 28 from the charity stripe.

Damion Lee cooled off a bit after scoring 27 combined points in his first two NBA games, but his energy and effort are still fully appreciated on this team. He finished with 7 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal in 20 minutes.

Andrew White III also got back in the scoring books, notching 7 quick points on 3 of 6 shooting in only 9 minutes of action.

Next: Atlanta Hawks Mock Draft 2.0

The Hawks return to action on Tuesday against the red-hot Utah Jazz. Tipoff is 9:00 p.m. EST.