Atlanta Hawks: What's A Successful Season Now?

Even the most optimistic of Atlanta Hawks fans didn’t envision this. Coming back after the All-Star Break, with March just over the horizon, Atlanta holds a six and a half game lead over the Eastern Conference’s second placed Toronto Raptors.

The 2014-15 Hawks became only the eighth team in NBA history to have four All-Stars (not to mention a head coach and another player in the rookie-sophomore game). They also set a franchise record 19-game win streak, also good enough to tie for the sixth longest winning streak in NBA history.

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It’s also worth mentioning that they’ve done all of this, and achieved a record of 43-11, after only winning one of their first four games and starting the season 5-5.

This is a franchise that is used to being poked and prodded about mediocrity. This is a fan base that has never witnessed their team get beyond the conference semifinals since 1970. These are the fans who have been jeered about empty arenas for years, but now show little difficulty in packing Philips Arena to the rafters.

All of a sudden, and rather unexpectedly, here they are though. The Hawks are not only the logical favorite to come through the East right now, but they have emerged as a legitimate contender for the NBA championship, as highlighted by their win over Golden State prior to the break.

So, where do they go from here?

The answer has to be short and sweet; the Hawks need to keep winning.

This type of season may be new to many of the guys on the roster in Atlanta, but saying that, the Hawks’ locker room still has it’s fair share of guys who have experienced what winning feels like.

It seems like a long time ago now, but Al Horford, the man who appears to be the Hawks de facto leader on the floor, was a part of the Florida Gators team (alongside guys like Joakim Noah, Corey Brewer and Marreese Speights) that won back-to-back national titles in 2006-07.

Head coach Mike Budenholzer has had his own taste of victory too, picking up four NBA titles during his time as one of Gregg Popovich’s most trusted advisors on the San Antonio Spurs’ bench.

It’s no coincidence that those two men are winners either. A story that Florida coach Billy Donovan recalled to Zach Lowe a couple of months ago, acts as a neat mirror image for what this current Hawks group have become, and the mindset that Horford, et al possess:

"Horford was the pulse of the team at Florida, Donovan says. All the national attention on Joakim Noah could have created resentment, but Horford didn’t care. A reporter asked Horford after the team’s second national title win, against Ohio State, if he felt any jealousy over the mob scribbling quotes from Noah. “Why would that bother me?” Horford asked, according to Donovan. “We’re both getting rings.”"

Perhaps that’s why everything has meshed together for Atlanta. A coach who has specialized in working in an environment that developed players to win as a team, has been given a group of players who are gifted in their unselfishness, and the results are spectacular.

From humble team leaders like Horford and Paul Millsap, to end of the bench guys like Shelvin Mack, Elton Brand and Mike Muscala, everybody knows, understands and accepts their roles.

Surely that’s the winning formula.

This whole season is a rare alignment of circumstances and Atlanta needs to take advantage of it. Anything short of the conference finals would be a disappointment for the Hawks, but they can’t afford to think like that.

Right now there’s no reason to suggest that the Hawks won’t be the East’s representative in the Finals in June, and that should be the story Atlanta sticks to.

This isn’t a team to be measured by first-/second-round victories; this is a group with the potential to do something truly amazing.

Next: The 5 Best Atlanta Hawks Moments Before The All-Star Break

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What’s A Successful Season For The Atlanta Hawks Now?

By Adam McGee | Feb 19, 2015

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