Atlanta Hawks rising star John Collins recently opened up on the JJ Redick podcast about his monster dunk over Sixers’ big man Joel Embiid.
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The NBA is a league that comprises of various athletic freaks, and exceptional dunkers, with Hawks rising star John Collins being one of the best of the lot. The 24-year-old has made the highlight reel many times throughout his career with his spectacular dunks.
However, there is one poster that is associated with a player. In the case of John Collins, it happened to be his dunk over 76ers star Joel Embiid in the playoffs last year.
John Collins recently made an appearance on JJ Redick’s podcast ‘The Old Man and the Three’. Naturally, the question of his most preferred in-game dunk came up, and Collins had a clear favourite –
“It’s probably the one on Joel in the playoffs. We were talking a lot. It was a little buildup on that one. Probably my most meaningful two points on anybody in the heart of the playoffs.”
Check out the clip of the dunk here:
Sheesh! That was nasty! What made the jam even sweeter is that he and Joel Embiid had some beef going on at the time, as they were constantly trash-talking each other. Furthermore, what makes it quite impressive is that the Sixers star is one of the best rim protectors in the game today.
Later on in the interview, John Collins also commented on him trolling Embiid by wearing a shirt of the dunk at the post-game interview. So, what exactly did he say? Read on and find out…
John Collins talks about his iconic post-game interview where he trolled Joel Embiid by wearing a shirt depicting the dunk.
The playoff series between the Sixers and the Atlanta Hawks last year was a tension-filled one. The playoff intensity brought out the beast in both Embiid and Collins, and in a few instances, it even boiled over. In fact, in Game 6 of the series, the duo got into a tangle. Check out the clip here:
Trae Young and company went into the series as underdogs. Despite that, they edged out the Sixers in front their fans in a nail-biting Game 7. Collins added insult to injury in the post-game interview by wearing a shirt of the monster dunk. The 24-year-old recently opened up about the same –
“Shoutout to Scottie C… he’s our team photographer. What happened is, I was walking into the arena, and he texted me and was like, ‘I got this shirt for you, I want you to come check it out.’ I didn’t get a chance to see it… he was traveling with us to Philly.”
“After the game we won, thankfully, he brings me the shirt… But anyway, I get the shirt, and I’m like, ‘Dang what do what do I do.’ Because the game is already over… But I got media. I have media so I’m like bet… Put the shirt on… I go in there, put the shades on and you know, the rest is history.”
“The most meaningful two points of my career.” – John Collins opens up about the Embiid dunk.
Full ep drops tomorrow: https://t.co/3wGZq3EszW pic.twitter.com/8l2XUJpZ21
— TheOldMan&TheThree (@OldManAndThree) December 23, 2021
Well, he is right. The rest was pretty much history. It gave birth to one of the most iconic post-game interviews in the recent game. Collins made sure the world knew how he felt after postering one of the best big men in the business. And rightfully so.
John Collins’ shirt for post-game interviews has a picture of him dunking on Embiid during Game 6.
(via @ATLHawks) pic.twitter.com/k86uhHPUeG
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) June 21, 2021
The Atlanta Hawks have been underwhelming this season, with a record of 14-16. While John Collins is averaging 17.6 points and 8.0 rebounds per game this season, he will need to raise his game a bit more for the Hawks to recreate some of the last year’s playoff success.
And as for us fans, we can surely expect more posters from John Collins for the foreseeable future.