Big nights from the young Hawks.
Atlanta continued their summer league campaign with an early Sunday game against the Phoenix Suns. The Hawks were without two-way player Eli Ndiaye among a handful of others due to injury. The Suns were missing their first-round pick Khaman Maluach and two more recent draft picks for them.
Jacob Toppin and Nikola Djurisic, two of the most recent signings for the Hawks, were engaged on both ends early on.
Kobe Bufkin set up this Djurisic triple:
Kobe behind-the-back dime pic.twitter.com/0IovnUKyBX
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) July 13, 2025
After a small deficit early on, the Hawks put together a 10-0 run to take the lead halfway through the first quarter.
With the reserves in at the end of the period, the Hawk were off and running in transition and finished with a separate 13-0 run, giving them a 30-17 edge after the first 10 minutes.
The second half was a bit more competitive, although a lot of that was down to a cold start offensively for the Hawks. After the lull, we saw threes from Toppin and even first-round pick Asa Newell, something that’s not yet his forte but encouraging:
Asa triple pic.twitter.com/gw1JfRGFa7
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) July 13, 2025
He later went on a strong rebounding streak and he even recorded a monster block.
At halftime, the Hawks led 48-36.
Atlanta came out hot in the second half, with some razzle dazzle between Djurisic and Toppin and some inside buckets from Newell:
Asa going to work inside and outside pic.twitter.com/ZUMCl341Nv
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) July 13, 2025
They maintained their lead throughout the period, but they bobbled a onetime 22-point lead to let Phoenix back in it. However, strong play late in the quarter from Djurisic and Kobe Johnson helped buffer the slide:
Kobe J. gets a backdoor bucket then sets up a Niko three! pic.twitter.com/5gPDklpY5G
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) July 13, 2025
After three quarters, the Hawks led 72-66.
Djurisic continued his strong game into the fourth quarter, routinely finding his teammates with slick passes to set up scores. Kobe Bufkin had a tough night shooting from the floor (3-for-17), but he was able to get inside and finish in the paint a couple of times in the fourth quarter.
There would be no late-game collapse, as the Hawks finished off the Suns by a score of 98-80.
Jacob Toppin had 15 points and eight rebounds. Asa Newell added a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds. Nikola Djurisic also had 16 points and four assists for the good guys.
The win moves the Summer Hawks to a perfect 2-0 in the competition, and they’ll play the Houston Rockets tomorrow (Monday) next.