On the heels of the wild comeback on Wednesday, the Atlanta Hawks entered Thursday evening’s contest against the Portland Trail Blazers with a guarantee of two more games in Las Vegas. However, the quest for the ever-important NBA Summer League title was on the line and the Hawks fell short by a final score of 95-69.
The weirdness of the night began before tip-off, when the Hawks announced that Trae Young (rest), Tyler Dorsey (right groin tightness) and Jaylen Adams (left ankle sprain) would join John Collins (rest) on the bench for this particular game. While Atlanta did have three roster players (Omari Spellman, Jaylen Morris and Antonius Cleveland) available, the simple reality of reduced interest was real and that has to be noted at the top.