Through the first half of the Hawks brutal four-game road trip, the Hawks have remained surprisingly competitive.
Lebron James and the Lakers could not help but let Atlanta sneak back into Sunday night’s game at the Staples Center. It took an offensive rebound and put-back from James, after he missed two straight free throws, for Los Angeles to squeak by the Hawks. Not to mention, a couple of questionable calls by the referees.
Young led the way down the stretch, nearly winning the game with a last-second floater that was blocked by Tyson Chandler (could have been a goaltend). Taurean Prince was the Hawks leading scorer with 23 points on 9/13 from the field, which was nice to see given his recent poor shooting stretch. Bazemore also pitched in 21 points on 7/12 from the field.
Two nights later the Hawks were blessed with their yearly showdown in Golden State. The Warriors were short-handed, missing both Steph Curry and Draymond Green, but Atlanta was still a massive underdog. They led going into the locker room for halftime despite Trae Young having his worst night scoring in his young career. Once again, Prince led the Hawks with 22 points. In the end, Durant proved to be too much, dropping 29 in a 110-103 victory. Although, it took him 23 shots to get there.
They may not have been wins, but the Hawks battled against the two teams many expect to see in the Conference Finals six months from now. It is a much better look than losing by 30 to the Kings at home or losing by 30 to the Cavs in general. This roster wasn’t built to win many games; however, the amount of positives you are starting to see on a consistent basis makes it worth watching every time they take the floor.
There is no set plan for John Collins to return. The Hawks are in no rush to bring him back, but when he does this team can win some games. Atlanta heads to Denver then Indiana before returning home to play the Clippers next Monday night.