Hawks Fall To 0-2 In Preseason Following Cavs Loss
For the first time in 129 days, State Farm Arena hosted an NBA game. Sure, it's still preseason, and several key players were in street clothes, but don't tell that to the fans in the arena.
Unfortunately, the Hawks brought their cold shooting with them back from Miami. Even worse, the Cavaliers were not about to get blown out for the second time in 24 hours. Instead, what we got was a low-scoring battle (almost literally between Jarrett Allen and Cam Reddish).
Speaking of Reddish, the promising young player put together one of his more complete performances. Coach McMillan made the third-year player a point of emphasis tonight. After the game, McMillan told reporters:
"I wanted to play though him and allow him to play with the basketball. I've got to find out who Cam is. You know he didn't play a lot last year for us, so this preseason I plan to play him every preseason game to try to get him involved and see how we can use him and how we can put him in position to help us. We know what he can do defensively, offensively, we need to see him play with the ball."
Reddish's 2019 classmate, De'Andre Hunter, made his return and looked good defensively. However, Hunter's rust was visible on offensive, but that should be no cause for concern with him as he gets back into rhythm.
Additionally, the team got Kevin Huerter back on the court. 'Red Velvet' did not miss a beat in his first game since the Eastern Conference Finals, going 3-4 of from behind the arc and finishing with 15 points.
Without a doubt, the highlight of the night came when John 'The Baptist' Collins posterized Jarrett Allen with one of the most disrespectful dunks the league has seen since, well, the Joel Embiid baptism.
Despite the improvement and fun moments, the Hawks lost the game 99-96. McMillan said, "our conditioning is just not where it needs to be." His goal is to balance playing time with getting in ample conditioning. "We got the shots. But we just don't have our legs right now."
Two areas of concern on the Hawks ultra-deep roster are the backup point guard and center spots. So I would be remiss if I didn't mention Sharife Cooper and Gorgui Dieng. Cooper scored 9 points and dropped 5 dimes. After Delon Wright left the game with a tweaked ankle, the rookie guard got his first minutes in the 3rd quarter. McMillan said, "He played at the pace we wanted... Sharife came in and really gave us a lift."
Dieng played 31 minutes and accumulated 13 points, 11 rebounds, and 6 assists. McMillan said of Dieng, "He needs to be in shape. Our entire team needs to be in shape. I thought he was doing some good things. He started to get a feel for how we wanted to play."
The Hawks will travel to Memphis for their next game against the Grizzlies on Saturday, October 9. Keep it locked into AllHawks.com for breaking news and analysis of your Atlanta Hawks.
Hawks Stats Leaders
Cam Reddish - 20 PTS, 5 STL
Kevin Huerter - 15 PTS, 4 REB
John Collins - 14 PTS, 8 REB, 1 Baptism
Cavaliers Stats Leaders
Collin Sexton - 19 PTS, 6 REB
Darius Garland -15 PTS, 7 AST
Jarrett Allen - 12 PTS, 7 REB
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