Atlanta Hawks: Rapid Reaction to Rapturous Win vs. Thunder

Rapid reactions to an Atlanta Hawks victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Atlanta Hawks were wearing a beautiful sky blue throwback jersey on the team’s 50th anniversary court tonight, and this young team put on a memorable show for the home crowd.

The Hawks put up their most points of the season, besting the Thunder by a final margin of 142 to 126. That 142 points is the most points in regulation since the 2009-10 season when they scored 146 against the Toronto Raptors.

The Thunder, who came into the game as one of the best defenses in the league, had no answer for the Hawks, and these young guns put on an offensive clinic from start to finish.

There were multiple memorable performances and astonishing highlights, though I don’t think any of them compared with this beautiful breakaway reverse double-clutch dunk from DeAndre’ Bembry:

All five of the Hawks starters scored in double figures and 7 of the 10 players that saw action logged at least 10 points. The Hawks shot an absurd 62.2 percent from the field (thanks to a parade of wide-open dunks) and 48.7 percent from long distance.

Some notable singular performances from this game can be attributed to Trae Young, who got the better of his counterparts Russell Westbrook and, in particular, Dennis Schröder, who was headhunting Trae all night and playing much better defense than he did all of last year.

Ice Trae finished the game with 24 points on 8 of 17 shooting (4 of 9 from deep) with 11 assists, 6 rebounds and a +16 on/off rating. Trae was diming up teammates and drilling insanely deep treys all night, like this one:

However, the Hawks were led in scoring by John Collins, who had finished the game with a ridiculously efficient scoring night of 26 points on 10 of 12 shooting with 5 rebounds and 2 assists in 28 minutes played. Collins was feasting all night and it was a joy to behold. Let’s hope he starts to get a little hype for the All-Star game, as we feel he’s deserving.

The Atlanta Hawks now have three straight days off for the final time this season (other than the All-Star Break). The team plays next on Saturday against the Boston Celtics. Tip-off is 7:30 p.m. EST.