This was the week where it was all supposed to end for the Atlanta Hawks. The non-believers pointed to four games in five days, all on the road, as a test that would surely prove too much for these plucky superstar-less Hawks. Particularly when you consider that the trip was going to end with a back-to-back against Chicago and Toronto.
These Hawks are a different type of beast altogether though, and seem to be unfazed by any challenge put in front of them.
In the opening two games of the week, they faced the lowly Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics. Both sides were taken care of with ease, despite the fact that Hawks’ coach Mike Budenholzer decided to rotate some well deserved rest for his starters between the two games. A shining example of Atlanta’s underrated depth.
The way in which the Hawks then systematically picked apart the Toronto Raptors in their home building on Friday would have served as a waring, not only to the Eastern Conference, but to the entire NBA.
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The game against Chicago resulted in a similarly impressive victory, even if it was by a narrower margin. In some ways, perhaps the win against Chicago was Atlanta’s most impressive of the season. The reason I say that is that the team were presented with a couple of challenges which they’ve been lucky to avoid so far this season.
I am of course talking about injuries.
I know it’s the last thing anyone that’s even remotely connected with the Hawks wants to talk about, but it has to be done. You see the Hawks have been burned by injuries before, as recently as last season too.
Atlanta were surprising many people with their higher than expected position in the standings during the early parts of last season too. They ranked third in the East at Christmas before disaster struck.
Al Horford tore his pectoral muscle, and the team would plummet down the standings to be the eighth seed in the Playoffs. It seems that finish was all that people could see about the Hawks entering into this season too, leading fans and analysts around the league to underestimate the team’s potential.
To Atlanta’s relief, they’ve generally avoided the injury bug so far this season though. Aside from short spell’s of absence for DeMarre Carroll and Jeff Teague, the Hawks have had a full compliment of players to choose from.
That’s what made last night’s game quite so impressive too. Although it wasn’t indicated before the game, Dennis Schröder was unavailable due to an ankle problem, while when Shelvin Mack then jarred his leg in the second quarter, that left Atlanta with Teague as their only healthy point guard.
Against a team as good as Chicago that seems like a potential recipe for disaster, but Atlanta just got on with. Although it’s not his natural position, Kent Bazemore stepped up as Teague’s backup, and between them they got the job done.
One thing that’s for sure is that Atlanta won’t want to spend too long having to try out that two man point guard rotation though.
After the game, Budenholzer gave an update on Schröder, as reported here by Chris Vivlamore of the AJC:
"Following the game, Budenholzer admitted that Schröder had injured his ankle in Friday’s win over the Raptors. He said he expects Schroder to be available Monday.The Hawks gave no indication of the severity of Mack’s injury."
So, one of the two should be fit for the team’s Martin Luther King Day matchup against the Detroit Pistons, but that doesn’t mean that the Hawks are out of the woods yet.
Atlanta have already proven just how deep they are, but there isn’t one team in the NBA that wouldn’t be left short following injuries to two of their point guards. In that sense, this is the first real scare that Hawks fans have had this season.
This is a special team who are showing right now that they could have the potential to go all the way, it’s now up for everyone to hope that injuries just stay out of their way.