Atlanta Hawks: 4 Best Performers from Preseason Win vs. Knicks

A quick piece detailing the best performers from the Atlanta Hawks preseason win against the New York Knicks.

At long last, the Atlanta Hawks won a preseason game. Though it took four tries, it’s nice to delve into a box score that doesn’t show a glut of turnovers as well as hideous on/off numbers. Tonight’s contest, at least on the Hawks side, featured neither of those things, and it was a pleasure to see.

Read on to explore the four best performers for the Hawks in this win.

Honorable Mention: DeAndre’ Bembry

Though DeAndre’ Bembry had a putrid night scoring (2 of 14 shooting for 6 points), he was everywhere on defense and really mixed it up with some of the feisty figures on the Knicks (Marcus Morris, Bobby Portis). Bembry’s contributions cannot be downgraded just because he had an off night scoring. His final stat line showcases his all-around impact: 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals, 0 turnovers.

Vince Carter

42-year-old Vince Carter lit up Madison Square Garden to the tune of 17 points on a red-hot 6 of 11 shooting. Watching Vince do anything is joyous, let alone carry the Hawks to a preseason win. Keep it up VC!

Cam Reddish

In Kevin Huerter’s stead, Cam Reddish provided the “glue guy” role that every team needs. Reddish finished with a game-high +11 on/off rating and logged 9 points, 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 1 assist and 1 block. That’s exactly the kind of performance from him that will lead to wins in the regular season. Great to see.

De’Andre Hunter

It’s wonderful to see both lottery picks of the Atlanta Hawks on this list, and De’Andre Hunter was rock-solid, though unassuming, in this game. Hunter scored 15 points had 2 rebounds and 2 assists in 25 minutes and played tremendous defense all night. That is likely to be the norm for the #4 overall pick.

Trae Young

Last but far away from least are the efforts of point guard maestro Trae Young. Young played a whopping 34 minutes – a lot for preseason – and delivered the Atlanta Hawks a thrilling victory. The Hawks were nearly powerless on offense without Trae, so it will be interesting to see how they fare when the games matter.

Ice Trae clobbered the Knicks and finished with 23 points, 9 assists, 5 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block with – crucially – 0 turnovers.

While this game may not have mattered in the long run, it was clear that the Hawks didn’t want to get punked by a pugnacious Knicks team in MSG. Thankfully, that did not happen. One more preseason tune-up awaits on Thursday against the Bulls.