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So at the end of December the Atlanta Hawks have the same record 21-10 as they had last year at the same time. Is this Atlanta Hawks team better than last year?

2009-2010

Some Quality wins:

@ Portland 97-91

Denver 125-100

@ Boston 97-86

@ Dallas 80-75

Utah 96-83

Bad Losses:

@ Charlotte 83-103

@ New Orleans 88-96 (minus Chris Paul)

Orlando 76-93 (had a 12pt lead at Half)

@ Detroit 88-94 (minus Richard Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, Ben Gordon)

NY Knicks 107-114

@ Chicago 98-101 (after beating them by 35 at home the week before)

Cleveland 84-95 (went scoreless for 9 minutes to start the 4th)

@ Cleveland 101-106 (had a 14 point lead in the 3rd,  outscored by 13 in the fourth, a big shot clock malfunction that didn’t go our way)

So looking back on the schedule we are 1-3 against the Big 3 of the East. We have really bad losses against Charlotte, Detroit, New York, and Chicago. These games shouldn’t have even been close. But we also have some big time wins at Portland, Boston, and Dallas. All games we lost last season. Streaks: 7 W, 6 W, have lost 2 in a row twice.

Home Record: 12-3 , Road Record: 9-7

2008-2009

Quality Wins:

@ Orlando 99-85

@ New Orleans 87-88 (this New Orleans team was much better than the 09-10 team)

@ Miami 87-73

Cleveland 97-92

Denver 109-91

Bad Losses:

@ New Jersey 108-115

New Jersey 107-119 ( New Jersey wasn’t as bad as this years team, but they were still pretty bad)

Boston 85-88 (Joe Johnson misses the back end of a pair of free throws that would have tied the game with a few seconds remaining)

Looking back on the 08-09 team we had some nice wins at Orlando and New Orleans and to big wins at home against Cleveland and Denver. We were 2-3 against the Big three of the East. The only really bad losses were the New Jersey games. This Hawks team was streaky from Nov.-Dec. Started the season 6-0, then lost 4 in a row, then won 3 in a row, then lost 3 in a row in Texas, came home won 3 in a row, lost to Boston at home, then won 6 in a row.

Home Record: 14-2, Road Record: 7-8

So is this years team better than last years team? Looking back I would say this years team has had a lot more BAD losses than last years team. Some of the losses we have had this year are just inexcusable. These losses might come back to bite us at the end of the year. But I would also so we have some nice wins on the road this year that we didn’t have last year. After much thought I would say the verdict is still out on this team. They still have a lot to prove if they want to be an “ELITE” team. It starts on Saturday. They SHOULD handle the Knicks easily. I guess we will see.

What is your opinion?