Trae Young and John Collins will look to continue their hot play on Friday when the Atlanta Hawks host the San Antonio Spurs.
Young, voted as a starter on the Eastern Conference All-Star team, is averaging 30.4 points over the past five games. For the season he is averaging 27.8 points and 9.3 assists and has scored 30-plus points on 21 occasions.
He is coming off one of his better shooting games. He put up 34 points on 13-of-20 shooting from the field with six 3-pointers in Tuesday’s 133-112 win over the short-handed Indiana Pacers.
Collins is averaging 21.0 points and 9.3 rebounds over the past four games with two double-doubles. He scored 13 of his 20 points against Indiana in the first quarter to set the pace for the lopsided victory.
Young had 31 points and 11 assists in the first meeting against the Spurs this season, a 124-106 win on Nov. 24 in San Antonio. He is averaging 25.9 points and 8.3 assists in seven career appearances against the Spurs.
Atlanta had a season-high 36 assists (22 in the first half) against the Pacers, an indication of ball movement and the willingness to run the offense.
“We can create ball movement like that and we have shooters that can knock down the shots,” Atlanta coach Nate McMillan said. “And those are shots they practice every day, so we want to get that ball movement.”
The Spurs began their eight-game road trip with a 105-92 loss at Cleveland on Wednesday and have dropped four of their past five.
The Spurs are led by Dejounte Murray, who averages 19.5 points, 8.4 rebounds and 9.2 assists and has been named to the Western Conference All-Star team.
Murray had his 14th career triple-double on Jan. 26 to tie David Robinson’s Spurs record. He threatened a triple-double in the first game against the Hawks, going for 22 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists.
The Spurs are also working Zach Collins into the rotation. The high-energy big man has played well in two games since returning from a left ankle injury and surgery that took a year and a half to heal.
“He’s a talented young man,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. “He is physical. He doesn’t shy away from contact. He can play out on the floor. He can play out on the block. And he showed that.”
Collins had 10 points and seven rebounds in his return on Feb. 4 against Houston and posted five points and seven rebounds against Cleveland.
“I was a little bit nervous and I was a little bit shocked to be back in an NBA game,” he said.
The Spurs will not have Tomas Satoransky, who has not joined the team since being obtained in a three-team trade on Thursday. The veteran forward was averaging 2.9 points, 2.0 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 32 games for New Orleans.
Before Thursday’s trade deadline, the Spurs acquired Goran Dragic and a protected 2022 first-round pick from the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Thaddeus Young, Drew Eubanks and a 2022 second-round selection.
ESPN said the Spurs plan to negotiate a contract buyout with Dragic. The 35-year-old guard missed the past 33 games for the Raptors while dealing with a personal matter.
–Field Level Media