In the first preseason game in which head coach Lloyd Pierce pushed his two best players to regular season minutes, the Atlanta Hawks were victorious. Trae Young and John Collins played 35 and 30 minutes, respectively, in what should be a closer approximation of their regular season load than the ~25 minutes each had logged in the previous three games. The result was also closer to what the Hawks can expect to see in the regular season, even as Pierce is still experimenting with the rest of his rotation.
Young responded to the regular season warmup with his best game of the preseason.