Atlanta Hawks: 7 Takeaways from First Game of Regular Season

Rookies Rising

While Trae Young surely garnered most of the headlines, Omari Spellman and Kevin Huerter also made their NBA debuts on this night. With both John Collins and Dewayne Dedmon out, the big man Spellman was able to impact the game in more ways as he tallied 7 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block in only 8 minutes of playing time. Spellman was all over the place, which was nice to see. Huerter only played 4 minutes (not scoring), but he did body up Frank Ntilikina on defense (though Frank Smokes is not known for his work on that end of the floor).

Vince Carter is a National Treasure

Lastly, it is still an absolute thrill to see Vince Carter in an Atlanta Hawks uniform. Though VC was stymied by a whopping 5 fouls being called on him as the team’s starting power forward, he still managed 12 points on 4 of 9 shooting and was a +7 in 23 minutes of action – the best number among starters.

While VC was mostly relegated to guarder burlier big men and carping at refs about ticky-tack foul calls, he was still able to showcase his work ethic at 41 years old on this awesome hustle play, which led to an insanely deep triple as the shot clock expired.

What can we say? He’s a legend.

The Atlanta Hawks next game is against the Memphis Grizzlies on October 19 at 8:00 p.m. EST.