Andrew Beaton of the Wall Street Journal: “The Atlanta Hawks (31-8) enter Friday’s showdown with Toronto owning a 10-game winning streak and the second-best record in the NBA, placing them four losses clear of the Raptors and Washington Wizards in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta’s success this season with a team devoid of superstars seems mind-boggling in the modern NBA, where LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers were anointed champions-to-be in July. (Even with a sub-.500 record entering Thursday’s action, Cleveland still has shorter odds to win the NBA title than the Hawks, according to online sportsbook Bovada.) But as startling as the Hawks’ record has been, it should actually look quite familiar. More than anything, they look like the reigning NBA champion San Antonio Spurs. Coached by Mike Budenholzer, who was an assistant in San Antonio under Gregg Popovich from 1996-2013, the Hawks have built a team around a cast of solid, yet unspectacular, players.”
Bo Churney of Hawks Hoop: “The only team at the top of the East that the Hawks were yet to beat were the Toronto Raptors. That finally changed on Friday night. Al Horford scored a team-best 22 points, scoring on all eight of his field goal attempts, to lead the Hawks past Toronto by a score of 110-89. Paul Millsap also had a big night stuffing the box score, putting up 16 points, eight rebounds, four assists, three steals, and two blocks in just 33 minutes. The win extended the Hawks’ overall winning streak to 11 and the team’s winning streak on the road to 11, the latter of which continues to be a franchise best run.”
Brad Rowland of Peachtree Hoops: “We’re running out of glowing adjectives to describe the Atlanta Hawks right now, but on Saturday night, the team has another grueling test, as they complete a back-to-back set on the road with a trip to Chicago to take on the Bulls. The Hawks enter with an incredible 11-game winning streak, and above and beyond that, Mike Budenholzer’s crew has also won 11 straight games away from Philips Arena. However, Chicago is perhaps the biggest roadblock between the Hawks and unmitigated success in Eastern Conference. The Bulls are “just” 27-14 on the season, but it is almost universally accepted that Chicago is the de facto “favorite” in the conference right now. Fortunately for the road team in this match-up, the home team will be without both Joakim Noah and Mike Dunleavy on Saturday, in addition to the fact that the Hawks are basically out of their minds at the moment.”
