ATLANTA – John Collins knew the Memphis Grizzlies didn’t want to play a fast-paced game, so he and his Atlanta Hawks teammates needed to keep pushing the ball up the floor.
“I think they have a little bit more a slower tempo, and I think we were able to take advantage of that and attack that,” Collins said. “We like to get up and down. A lot of transition buckets. Open 3s. We were able to just execute on offense.”
Collins had 27 points and 12 rebounds and rookie Trae Young added 22 points as Atlanta snapped the Grizzlies’ three-game winning streak with a 132-111 victory Wednesday night.
It marked the most points that Memphis, the NBA defensive scoring leader, has allowed this season, seven more than it gave up in an overtime road win against the Brooklyn Nets on Nov. 30.
C.J. Miles scored a season-high 33 points and Mike Conley finished with 20 for the sluggish Grizzlies. Atlanta, which had 35 assists on 52 field goals, never trailed in a matchup of teams buried in the standings.
