Hawks drop fifth consecutive Summer League game, lose to Portland 85-68

With Tyler Dorsey sidelined with hip tightness, the Atlanta Hawks entered Sunday’s Summer League battle against the Portland Trail Blazers with a slightly reduced roster. However, the team did deploy both Trae Young and John Collins (among others) and, after 40 minutes of action, the Hawks fell once again, this time by a final score of 85-68.

After a 30-point outburst in Saturday’s contest, it was a bit of a surprise to see Collins playing on the second of a back-to-back but the big man began the day with a confident, impressive connection from long range.

A 25-3 run from the Blazers at the end of the first quarter had the Hawks down and out but thanks to a quick offensive burst, Atlanta was able to just 10 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter was mostly uneventful and most of the action happened on the sidelines as Lloyd Pierce was interviewed on the broadcast and gave everyone the surefire answer that today would be John Collins’ last Summer League game.

Taurean Prince and DeAndre’ Bembry were also in attendance supporting their new teammates on the sidelines.

At halftime, the Hawks had managed to trim the deficit to nine points thanks to a combined strong defensive effort mixed with some common Summer League rough play from the Blazers.

The opening of the third quarter greeted fans with some disappointing news regarding top draft pick Trae Young, who was sidelined early thanks to a quad contusion.

Young’s night ended with him not scratching in the scoring column, but he did post three assists in nine first half minutes. Collins was also an injury risk after a pair of bad falls in the first half, but he had no issues continuing into the second half.

If today was indeed Collins’ last game, he showed off the full package of moves including this slick spin and finish.

The end of the third quarter came mercifully as it was some rough basketball to watch.

The fourth quarter was pretty rough as well without Trae Young in to run the offense so here is a video of Junior Robinson, who is listed at 5’5 (!) but might not even be that tall, dunking a basketball.

Thankfully it seems John Collins is going to finish Summer League without an injury, which was the best the Hawks could hope for. Here are his final points in big time jam form.

Collins finishes with 18 points and nine boards in the Hawks’ fifth straight loss. Antonius Cleveland showed some nice play on both ends of the floor and finished with nine points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Atlanta will get a day off before their next game on Tuesday and the Hawks will hope to get Trae Young back in time for that as it is believed his quad contusion is not serious. Stay tuned.