It’s Tanking Time! Hawks Fall to Heat 115-86

Taurean Prince returned to form after some notably slow games in recent weeks. The Prince That Was Promised came out firing and scored 20 quick points in only 24 minutes of action, then was shut down for the 4^th quarter.

Prince was scoring at all levels, employing his quick first step and strong ballhandling to knife his way into the lane for easy buckets, and his shot was also falling from deep. Taurean finished the night an extremely efficient 8 of 14 from the field and 3 of 6 from deep. TP also continues to showcase a knack for passing, as he added 4 assists in this to go along with a single rebound and steal.

Damion Lee also continues to showcase a clear role in the NBA, as he came out of the gate extremely well – scoring the first 7 points for the Hawks. Lee finished with 15 points on 7 of 13 shooting in only 22 minutes. He continues to look like a solid rotation piece for the Hawks going forward into the offseason.

https://twitter.com/ATLHawks/status/981696150209269760

Tyler Dorsey was the only other Hawk to score in double figures, as he logged 15 points on 5 of 13 shooting with 5 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 assist. Dorsey only shot 1 of 4 from three, so he will need to find consistency from the perimeter if he wants to retain his role on the Hawks.

Though Dorsey scored those 15 points, he was quite inefficient and the Hawks were outscored by a whopping 30 points when he was on the floor (a game-low).

John Collins was having trouble with the defensive talents of Whiteside, Richardson and even fellow rookie Bam Adebayo inside, though JC still finished with 9 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal in a team-high 27 minutes. He also, of course, had a dope dunk:

Very few other Hawks made an impression in this drubbing. Tyler Cavanaugh scored 5 points and nabbed 4 rebounds in only 9 minutes, energized after not playing much in the Erie BayHawks’ terrific playoff victory over the Fort Wayne Mad Ants.

https://twitter.com/ATLHawks/status/981705479033270272

It must be noted that two new Hawks made their debut on this night: Antonius Cleveland saw the court for the first time after missing 18 games with an ankle injury and BayHawks superstar Jeremy Evans saw his first minutes since signing a 10-Day contract, and both players had highlight moments.

Cleveland, who had some rough moments of ballhandling and ended with 2 turnovers, drilled this supremely deep pull-up three-pointer to close out the first half, and the shot looked great:

Cleveland only attempted one other shot, but he still finished with 5 points and 2 rebounds in 12 minutes.

Evans only saw the court in the closing minutes of garbage time and had a springy dunk following an offensive rebound:

The Hawks are off tomorrow but return to action Friday at 7:00 p.m. EST against the Washington Wizards, who will also be fighting for playoff seeding.

Next: Atlanta Hawks Mock Draft 3.0

Keep it locked to Soaring Down South for the final 3 games, as we creep closer and closer to the NBA’s draft lottery on March 15.