Atlanta Hawks: Studs and duds from streak-starting win over Magic

Atlanta Hawks studs from win over Magic: Clint Capela and John Collins set the tone inside

John Collins was the other 23-point scorer, giving him at least 20 points in back-to-back games for the first time this season. He had just three rebounds but recorded three assists, two blocks, and two steals in another all-around performance. These kinds of performances have become the norm for the fifth-year forward.

He also had two steals and two blocks and set a new career-high with 14 free-throw attempts, hitting 11 of them.

Over the last three games, Collins is averaging 22.6 points on 51 percent shooting. He hasn’t been great from deep, hitting just one of his last 10 triples. But he’s done everything else including play defense.

Collins has held opponents 5.3 percent below their usual efficiency this season; tops among starters on the team.

His fellow rim-runner, Clint Capela, had a monster 20-point, 16-board outing with three assists, three steals, and two blocks. He’s also begun to round into form of late, averaging 14.8 points and 13.5 boards. He was putting up similar numbers earlier in the year before a two-game lull saw him go back-to-back games under 30 minutes with single-digit points.

Capela has regained his efficiency, shooting 66.7 percent from the floor while seeing over 33 minutes per contest while only Andre Drummond and Nikola Jokic have averaged more boards over that span.

The Hawks are tough to beat when Capela and Collins are playing at this level

And Collins’ added layer of playmaking will only lead to even more highlights like the one we see above.

With Hunter gone until January, and Onyeka Okongwu out until February, the Hawks will need these two to continue setting the tone in games going forward. It makes things so much easier for this offense when they can attack the paint instead of settling for long twos.