The Atlanta Hawks struck gold with a big-time 106-98 victory over the visiting Denver Nuggets on Saturday night.
The author is breathless, visions of Larry O’Brien trophies for the 2021 Atlanta Hawks dancing all around him.
The last-place Atlanta Hawks just took down the first-place Denver Nuggets.
Why? Two words. John. Collins.
Ah! Random, magical nights in December! Here’s to you!
The first half was a titan-clash of star big men, as Nikola Jokic and Collins lit up the scoreboard for their respective teams. Jokic, who’s looking like an NBA All-First-Teamer, dropped 17 with 7 boards and 4 assists in the opening two quarters alone.
Collins, who on his current pace will have a chance at being an All-Star reserve, recorded 16 points in the first half. He continues to be a must-watch, bundle of electricity on the block. The big fella finished his stellar night with 30 points on 12-of-20 shooting, including three three-pointers. Oh, and he added 12 rebounds and 5 dimes for good measure.
John Collins scores a career-high 30 PTS to fuel the @ATLHawks to victory over the @nuggets, 106-98! pic.twitter.com/g2L62lJPt3
— NBA (@NBA) December 9, 2018
Trae Young struggled mightily in the first half, getting five of his seven shot attempts swatted on the way to just 2 points.
However, the rest of the team picked up the slack, battling back from a fifteen point deficit to crawl to within 56-51 going into the halftime break.