NBA Power Rankings: The Hawks are climbing

Well I will say that the Hawks have had a rather impressive week.  The easy schedule excuse cannot be used anymore now that they have won three straight impressive games.  Anyway lets see where writers from around the nation have put our Atlanta Hawks.

First on the list, Drew Garrison of Sbnation.com moves the Hawks to #6.

The Hawks are looking like the real deal, winning 12 of their last 13 and having a fantastic week despite a tough schedule. Wins over the Chicago Bulls, followed by road victories over the Cleveland Cavaliers and Houston Rockets, makes for a great week of Hawks hoop.

Next up, John Schuhmann of NBA.com puts the Hawks at #4 after the impressive week.

Someone needs to figure out what the Hawks ate for Thanksgiving, because they've been a totally different (defensive) team since then. Their only loss came at the buzzer, and after wins against the Bulls, in Cleveland and in Houston, you can throw the weak-schedule thing out the window. Maybe Spurs fans can adopt Spurs East for a while.

Matt Moore of CBSsports.com moves the Hawks all the way to #2 after mentioning the sudden improvement in defense.

The Hawks are as good on offense per possession (7th) as they are on defense per possession (No. 7), and are winning games they should and games vs. tough opponents (like Saturday's win vs. the Rockets). Maybe, just maybe, this is a Hawks team you can believe in.

Matt Dollinger of SI.com moves the Hawks to #7.

The only thing that’s been holding the Hawks back in these rankings is their strength of schedule. That’s no longer a glaring weakness, though, after Atlanta defeated the Bulls, Cavaliers and Rockets last week, improving to 12-1 in its last 13 games.

Marc Stein of ESPN.com puts the Hawks at #4 and says some good things about Coach Bud.

As of last Monday, Atlanta had played the NBA's weakest schedule. On this Monday, Atlanta is reveling in wins over Chicago (home), Cleveland (road) and Houston (road), generating more Spurs East talk than ever and making me look good (for a change) for picking Mike Bud as preseason COY.

The guys at Usatoday.com puts the Hawks at #9 and takes notice of Demarre shooting so well from three point land.

Turning DeMarre Carroll into a 40% three-point shooter is proof the system works.

Next, Kurt Helin of NBCsports.com ranks the Hawks at #7 and notices that Horford is starting to look like Horford again.

We wanted to see quality wins from them, so they went out last week and beat Cleveland, Houston and Chicago. Al Horford was a beast, averaging 18.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.7 blocks a game in those three. He remains the most underrated star player in the NBA.

Finally, Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports moves the Hawks up to #8 and points out the defensive effort by this team.

The Hawks are limiting foes to 89.6 points per game and 41.8 percent shooting during their 12-1 run.

Well that does it for this weeks Power Rankings roundup.  It appears that the Hawks have moved up across the board and for the most part the team is in the top 10.  Hopefully the Hawks can continue to move up with another strong week and when Jeff comes back in the lineup.  As always let me know what you guys think in the comments.