Atlanta Hawks: Rapid Reaction to last minute win in the Desert

Rapid reactions to the Atlanta Hawks 118-112 win on the road against the Phoenix Suns Saturday night.

The Atlanta Hawks Saturday night win improved the teams record to 17-35 on the season. Atlanta defeated a struggling Phoenix team that is currently last in the Western Conference standings.

Atlanta found themselves on the win column tonight after losing to the Utah Jazz Friday night.

Throughout tonight’s game, the Hawks showed some flashes of brilliance and at times showed glimpses of struggle. However, the young Atlanta team continued to fight no matter the score.

With All-Star Weekend 14 days away, the Atlanta Hawks are starting to return to full form. Saturday’s game was Kent Bazemore’s third game back on the floor since his injury December 29th.

Although Suns’ center DeAndre Ayton snatched the headlines prior to Saturday’s game the real highlight of this game was the performance of John Collins.

Collins stole the show with another strong performance as he finished the game with 35 points, and 16 rebounds while shooting 50 percent from behind the arc. He also dominated the Phoenix frontcourt who struggled to stop him down low.

The Wake Forest product took care of the ball and shot 13 of 20 from the field. The Hawks are at their best when both Collins and Trae Young are aggressive. Collins is having an exceptional sophomore season and is making a case as to why he should be the face of the franchise (even over Young).

Young (27), Collins (35), Dewayne Dedmon (11) and Kevin Huerter (10) scored double digits in Saturday nights win. Clearly, the Hawks are an upcoming team and still have a ways to go before making the playoffs but Saturday’s win was another stepping stone.

On the other hand, Bazemore and Taurean Prince have been struggling to find their role on the team, which may be due to the trade rumors surrounding the two. Despite Young’s 9 of 21 shooting, the rookie put pressure on the Suns by penetrating the lanes and kicking out to his open teammates.

Of course, Collins 35 points helped put Atlanta over the hump, but the team is at their best when Young is looking to pass first. Yes, he can shoot from anywhere on the floor but the team struggles when their starting guard takes a lot of unnecessary shots.

Young finished the game with 27 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds while shooting 40 percent from three. The fact that he dished out 8 assists is huge because it influences the rest of the team to move the ball and make the open pass.

Despite Bazemore’s underwhelming performance, he did a great job of making Devin Booker work for every basket. Granted Booker still managed to finish the game with 32 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds but Bazemore played physical with the young guard.

Booker provided issues for Atlanta and kept the Suns in the game with the assistance of Mikal Bridges (20), Josh Jackson (25) and Ayton (13). In addition to Booker’s 32 points, he also took on the role as point guard and dropped 10 assists.

Even though Booker scored 32 points, Atlanta should feel great considering the fact that Bazemore is still rusty from sitting out for a little over a month.

Atlanta pulled the win off tonight but almost threw it away by committing 24 turnovers. All young teams struggle with taking care of the ball but as this team grows they will value each possession with more care.

As All-Star Weekend draws closer the Atlanta Hawks are starting to develop an identity thanks to first-year coach Lloyd Pierce. Tonight’s victory was a great moral win even if it was against the Suns who are in last place in the Western Conference.

The Atlanta Hawks will take on the Washington Wizards Monday at 7:00 p.m. EST.

All stats for this article are from stats.nba.com.