The Hawks missed the presence of John Collins in the second half Wednesday night.
The forward exited the game against the Knicks during the third quarter after taking an elbow to the face while competing for a rebound. He immediately grabbed his head as he fell out of bounds. Though he was available for the team’s next offensive possession, he went back to the locker room shortly after the Hawks called a timeout.
The team designated him as questionable to return shortly after, then ruled him out for the rest of the game.
Collins had just made his return from dealing with left hip flexor soreness. He finished the night with eight points and two rebounds.
The Hawks fell to New York 122-101.
Following the game, Hawks coach Nate McMillan said the team will evaluate Collins to see if he will need to go into concussion protocol.
“He took a pretty good hit from (Julius) Randle on that drive to the basket, or Randle’s drive to the basket,” McMillan said.
The league’s concussion protocol requires that players not return to team activities until the player is without concussion symptoms at rest, has been evaluated by a physician, has passed the league’s return-to-exertion protocols and has had his team physician consult the director of the NBA’s concussion program.
The Hawks are off for the next week as the NBA heads into the All-Star break and won’t need to report until Wednesday for official practice.
