FanPost

The Northcyde Narrative - Vol. 5: A Golden Opportunity

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The Atlanta Hawks are off and running to a great start of the season. Boasting a gaudy 13 - 6 record, which includes winning 8 of their last 9, and 12 of their last 15, the Hawks have not only skyrocketed to the top of the Southeast Division, they're currently the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference. They have achieved this record by being one of the best offensive teams in the NBA, while playing good enough defense to win on most nights.

It also doesn't hurt to have played a bottom 5 Strength of Schedule up to this point, to pad their win total. Oh well. You play who the schedule says you play, regardless of how the opponent is playing at that time, or who is hurt from the other team, to possibly make the games easier.

The Hawks survived a potentially tough November stretch, by posting a 9 - 6 record at the end of the month. Disaster was averted on Monday night ( December 2nd ) when the Hawks came back from 23 down to beat the Boston Celtics. They then took their show on the road, and chalked up impressive wins at the Miami Heat and in the Barclays Center against the Brooklyn Nets. A victory vs the Denver Nuggets would mean that the Hawks would have won 6 straight games and set them up for something unprecedented in the history of the franchise. They took control of the Denver game early, and never looked back.

So here we are, with a 6 game win streak, and the golden opportunity to stretch that win streak to 10 games. The last time the Hawks have won 10 games in a row, was back at the start of the 1996 - 97 season, in which the Hawks won their first 11 games of the season and won 15 of their first 17 games. Unfortunately, that team would only post a 35 - 30 record over their next 65 games, and finish with a 50 - 32 mark to end the year. And true to Atlanta Hawk fashion, they'd get the 5th seed, and get knocked out in the 1st Round of the playoffs by the Charlotte Hornets.

But I'm not here to talk about the past . . . ain't that right Mark McGwire?

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We're talking about the PRESENT. We're talking about the fact that the Hawks next 4 opponents have a combined 27 - 59 record. We're talking about a potential 10 GAME WIN STREAK !!!

Is it unfair to the Hawks to even talk about such a thing? Better yet, is it unfair to EXPECT them to win their next 4 games vs these opponents? This team is red hot right now, and is taking care of business vs these inferior opponents. It's a trend that should continue through this week. So let's briefly look at our next 3 opponents that the Hawks will play in the next 4 games.

Indiana Pacers ( 7 - 13 ) - Monday Night

Devastated by the injury to All-NBA player Paul George, many expected the Pacers to be a below average team and miss the playoffs. Along with George, they were hit with nagging injuries to a number of the players expected to be heavy contributors throughout the season. With no go-to scorer on the team and a plethora of inefficient offensive players on the roster, the Pacers are one of the 5 worst offensive teams in the league. And they're currently in the middle of a stretch of games that is seeing them play the best of the West and East teams.

The saving grace for the Pacers is that they can still play a little defense, due to their big man in the middle, Roy Hibbert, still clogging up space in the paint. But without Paul George and Lance Stephenson, their wing defense is nowhere near where it was last season.

Philadelphia 76ers ( 2 - 18 ) - Wednesday Night

After losing 17 straight games to start the season, the Sixers averted a NBA tying 18 game losing streak to start the season, by beating the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves. Then they turn around and go to Detroit and beat Josh Smith and the Pistons. All of a sudden, the Sixers are "hot", winning 2 of their last 3 games. So they might pose a problem, right?

Ummm . . no.

What will be interesting to watch, is the point guard battles between Jeff Teague and Michael Carter-Williams, and also the backup PG battle between Dennis Schroder and Tony Wroten, Jr ( who is targeting Wednesday vs the Hawks to make his return from a sprained knee ). The Sixers frontline is just too young and inexperienced to handle Al Horford and Paul Millsap, but their PGs aren't scared of anybody, and should pose a good challenge for Jeff and Dennis.

Orlando Magic ( 9 - 14 ) - back to back Friday and Saturday Nights

The Orlando Magic will easily be the best team that the Hawks will play this week. They were hovering just below .500 in mid November, until the schedule was unkind to them. They're entering the last third of a stretch of games in which they have to play 11 out of 17 road games, with the majority of those games coming against current playoff level competition.

The Magic gave the Hawks trouble last year, splitting the 4 games they played against each other. And their frontline of Nikola Vucevic and Tobias Harris is one of the best young duos in the league. 2nd year player Victor Olidipo is developing into a nice young combo guard that can play both guard positions effectively. If it's any team this week that could give the Hawks trouble, it will be this one.

The ASTERIOID Ahead

The Hawks need not play around with these teams this week. They need to sweep this week, go 4 - 0, and be at 17 - 6 by this time next week. Because after this week, playtime is officially OVER. The 'big boys' of the league will come calling for the Hawks, bringing no holiday cheer with them. So the more the Hawks can pad their win total before facing these teams, the better.

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