Underrated Hawks Proving to be Contenders???

[Jamaaliver]

Love the attention national media is forced to give us after back-to-back wins over CHI and CLE:

The best team in the Eastern Conference could very well be the team that no one is talking about...

But after the first month and a half of the season, the Atlanta Hawks have emerged as a serious contender after notching a 17-7 record that has them sitting just a game and a half out of first place. The Hawks have become one of the hottest teams in the league over the last month, winning 12 out of their last 14 games, which included a nine-game winning streak. The Hawks have been so successful due to an offense and defense that are both ranked inside the top 10 in the league in efficiency, and the fact that they’re third in the league in team assists.

That improved DEFENSE is key. After getting whooped by LAL and CAVS previously, we put a renewed focus on defense and heve been light's out a a result.

[Jamaaliver]

“I think that our success has to do with the way that we’re defending,” Hawks center Al Horford told Basketball Insiders. “We are doing a good job defending and our guards are doing a great job of rebounding the ball. Offensively we’re moving the ball around, sharing it and really playing unselfish basketball. We’re having some success because of that.”

Despite being ranked 10th in the league in defensive efficiency, the Hawks don’t have any one great defender. The team instead relies on a collective effort to lock their opponents down. They are holding teams to just 96.9 points per game on 44 percent shooting from the floor. Millsap helps anchor the defense with a team-high 7.8 rebounds and 2.21 steals per game, which is third in the league...

Budenholzer: “I’d say we’re fairly boring and vanilla defensively and I think to be sound and fundamental is important.

[theatlfan]

One thing to note about CLE & LAL is that Demarre was out for both of those games. Not sure if that's a depth issue or another reminder about underrated Demarre really is.

I guess now that Bazemore is stepping up (and hopefully continues to) we'll know more...

[DirtybirdGA]

Maybe so, they struggled without him last year as well.

[HMFFL]

Things are moving in a positive direction for sure.
I just hope players around the league are taking notice and consider us during the future free agencies.

[simon24]

Things are moving in a positive direction for sure.
I just hope players around the league are taking notice and consider us during the future free agencies.

I guess it comes down to how ATL does in the playoffs. It's great to see regular season success but they desperately need a ECF appearance to really get everybody's attention.