Atlanta Hawks: Collins And Prince Rep ATL Well In Rising Stars Game

The NBA All-Star Weekend jumped off Friday night with the celebrity and Rising Stars games. John Collins and Taurean Prince represented the Atlanta Hawks well.

The NBA Rising Stars game is a great idea on paper. And, mostly, it is a good idea in practice. It is cool to see the young stars in the league get to showcase. Even if there is no defense played, and there is absolutely no defense played, it still holds some interest because the dudes are so young, and have apparently played well, thus far. Enter John Collins and Taurean Prince from our beloved Atlanta Hawks.

Hawks fans actually got to see both play for a decent amount of time. Collins and Prince logged 22 and 17 minutes, respectively. Their stat lines were not too shabby either.

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Collins’ line reads: 11 points on (5 of 8) shooting from the field, 3 REB, and 1 AST. Prince got out with 8 points on (3 of 6) shooting from the field, 2 of 3 from three, 2 REB, and 2 AST.

The highlight, though, was the dunk factory that the game turned into in the 4th quarter. There was little-to-no defense played at all, but what had been played completely gave way to a dunk contest.

With about 23 seconds to go in the game, Collins took an over the shoulder, no-look, behind the back lob and dunked the way we all did on those Nerf goals in our room growing up. Go check it out. It was good enough that social media popped and noticed.

I wrote here the other day that this is the first time since 2006 that the Atlanta Hawks doesn’t have an All-Star. It’s indicative of where we are right now. It’s also embarrassing.

But Collins and Prince show hope for the future. Both can get better, and that is exciting if you are a Hawks fan.

Next: Atlanta Braves: What to Look For in Spring Training

A couple of good drafts, and our Hawks could fly again soon.

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