The Atlanta Hawks began their five-game preseason run on Monday evening, with the friendly confines of McCamish Pavilion as the backdrop of a contest against the New Orleans Pelicans. In the end, the final score was 116-102 but, of course, there was plenty of action along the way.
As with any preseason game, expectations should be tempered but there were plenty of bright spots in the first half. John Collins zoomed to 8 of the first 12 points (more from him later) but it was DeAndre’ Bembry that stole some of the headlines with quality play.
The third-year wing started the evening with five consecutive made field goals, creating his own offense and playing within the system with effectiveness.