The Atlanta Hawks hoped for (and needed) the boost forward John Collins provides them. After missing 16 of the final 20 games in the regular season, the fifth-year man returned to action, coming off of the bench in the Hawks’ 115-91 Game 1 loss to the Miami Heat. It’s a game that risks being a disappointing trendsetter.
Miami led for all but 1:39 of this contest and never trailed by more than three while building up leads as large as 32 points.
Atlanta made it easy with very little passing or player movement off of the ball.
They will now try to regroup for Game 2 on Tuesday and, hopefully, they will have Collins available after the performance he put up. After all, this was his first action since March 11 against the Los Angeles Clippers.
John Collins did well in his first action for the Atlanta Hawks in over a month
Collins ended the game with 10 points, four rebounds, one assist, and one steal in a little over 21 minutes. He shot 66.7% from the floor, second among the rotation players only to De’Andre Hunter who had 14 points on 75.0% shooting (2-for-2 3P) with three boards, and a steal. But Collins is the one who was a part of the Hawks’ most efficient lineup at one point.
While the production from this one was encouraging, Collins’ comments after the game could be cause for pause on getting ahead of ourselves.
“I felt better than expected. I feel like the adrenaline took over a little bit. Obviously trying to handle it the right way, make sure I’m going out there in the best possible state. Just trying to be myself, obviously a little bit of a while (since) the last time I’ve been on the court. But I feel like I caught my wind.”
That is good news and is backed up by the minutes he saw in his return. Collins then went on to discuss his process to return.
“It’s been tough…me being a right-handed person, being my right hand, obviously it just creates a little bit more issues than I thought I would necessarily have and then planar fascia…it just being on my heel. Just the very specific places of them obviously gave me a little bit of trouble.”
"I felt better than expected. I felt like the adrenaline took over a little bit."@laurenjbara asked John Collins about his return to the court in Game 1 against the Heat. pic.twitter.com/CLBt5E4roW
— Bally Sports: Hawks (@HawksOnBally) April 17, 2022
Collins continued to say that they have a plan and that “I feel good” before revealing the sobering truth when asked when he knew he was 100% for Game 1.
“I don’t necessarily know if I’ll feel 100% anytime soon. As I said, it’s more so about just understanding ‘Can I go do I feel comfortable going out there and just hooping’. I feel like I know I won’t be pain-free but I don’t think that anybody’s pain-free at this point in the season. So I’m trying to make sure I’m not interrupting anything for the long term.”
Chris Kirschner of The Athletic reported that Collins was still experiencing pain in the finger and that he was having trouble gripping the ball. That Collins was able to be as efficient as he was is a testament to the work he put in to come back at a critical time.
With Clint Capela out of the lineup with a hyperextended knee, the Hawks turned to second-year big man Onyeka Okongwu in his place. And, with Collins still rusty, the timing on the lobs from Trae Young was off a few times. Those are momentum stealers for the Hawks and they simply were not there often enough in this one.
Collins also followed the company line not to blame the quick turnaround for the Hawks’ shortcomings in the deflating loss.
Hopefully, as he gets the adrenaline going again and with adrenaline flowing again, we can get a t-shirt-worthy dunk off of a Young lob from Collins. More importantly, hopefully, Collins – who hit 1-of-3 free throws on the afternoon – will help lead the Hawks to a Game 2 victory.