What if I told you eight Hawks players would be in double-figures following a nearly sold out home win that would also set a franchise record for scoring and one of those players wouldn’t be Kent Bazemore? Would you believe that?
Whether you would or wouldn’t believe the previous statement, it happened during the Hawks 126-80 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday night.
By the time Atlanta native 21 Savage emerged at halftime to perform, the home team was up 64-35 and center Dewayne Dedmon scored a season-high 18 points to go along with 11 rebounds (he would finish with 20 points and 14 rebounds, both season highs). Only three Hawks were in double-figures at that point of the game (Luke Babbitt had 13 points and the team’s leading scorer Dennis Schroder with 11 points, respectively).
After only being up 24-16 after the first quarter, the Hawks had their best quarter of the season to close the first half, scoring 40 points to the Kings’ 19. Dedmon scored 11 points while missing one of his six shot attempts in nine minutes of action.
To better put the Hawks’ second quarter in perspective: The Kings were 9-27 from the field and the Hawks were 15-24. That math works out to 33 percent shooting for the Kings and a remarkable 62.5 percent for the Hawks. Dedmon nearly outscored the Kings on his own during the second quarter.
Nothing went wrong for the Hawks on this night as they outrebounded Sacramento 53-29. It was the first positive rebounding advantage for Atlanta since their opening night win in Dallas over a month ago.
The win puts an end to a four-game losing streak for Atlanta and just in time for a string of games that will have Boston return to town less than two weeks since Kyrie Irving put on a fourth-quarter show in the Celtics 110-107 win.
The Hawks will also play (in consecutive order): at Spurs, at home against Clippers, Knicks, Raptors, and Cavaliers. If there was a good time to get the most out of their lineup and get that win-monkey off their backs it was now against the Kings.
Taurean Prince scored 14 points (5-8 FG) to go with five rebounds, eight assists, and four steals. Marco Belinelli and Malcolm Delaney each added 10 points off of the bench while rookie forward John Collins scored all 14 of his points during the second half, two of which came on a slam dunk off of a Schroder feed ( 21 points and eight assists) that brought the crowd to its feet.
Veteran guard George Hill (4-11 FG for 12 points) did not mix words after the game when asked by a reporter about the 46-point loss. “You’ve got to take it and own up to it,” said Hill. “We were awful tonight as a team.”
The home side locker room had a bit of a different vibe, “It’s good to win regardless of where you are,” said Bazemore who scored eight points but added three assists, five rebounds, and a block. “To get a win as big as we did [tonight], for any team, that means we have promise.”
