Atlanta Hawks: 3 takeaways from the pummelling of the Philadelphia 76ers

Atlanta Hawks key No. 1) When John Collins is active on offense the Hawks look good.

When John Collins is active and engaged on the offense the Hawks are a totally different team than when he is struggling. He only collected 12 points with seven rebounds and a single assist but it was the way that he played that makes the Hawks so hard to defend when he is on.

On one play Trae Young penetrated into the lane only to kick the ball out to Collins. The big man made the three, it never looked like missing. From this moment the 76ers knew they needed to defend Collins all the way to the 3-point line.

https://twitter.com/ATLHawks/status/1348801309067988994?s=20

Collins would make two more 3-point attempts in the first half which then allowed him to start driving to the hoop when he got the ball. He gave one pass off to Capela which the pivot was able to go up hard to the hoop as the defense had gone to Collins, leaving Capela open.

Collins made another play but Capela got fouled but the point is that when the power forward is on, he changes the whole look of the offense for the better. Without this, the Hawks can look stagnant and become too reliant on Young.