Atlanta Hawks: Top 10 moments from 2017-18 NBA season

3. Hawks go 2-0 against Jazz Schroder drops 41 in second game

One of the quirkier surprises of the 2017-18 season was the Hawks’ dominance over the Utah Jazz. Atlanta only swept two series this year: the Dallas Mavericks, a fellow lottery team, and the Jazz, the fifth seed in the Western Conference playoffs.

Their initial meeting on Jan. 22 in Atlanta started out as an affair where the Hawks kept the Jazz at arm’s length. Then, with 3:04 remaining in the third quarter, ATL reeled off a 34-9 run while shooting 12-for-16 from the field and 4-for-6 from beyond the arc. The game was out of hand, just like that. Atlanta cruised to a 104-90 victory.

But anyone can win on a given night in the NBA, so one would assume that the Hawks would falter in the return trip. That would put them at altitude in one of the more raucous arenas in the league. Instead, the Hawks went into Vivint Smart Home Arena and stifled the Jazz a second time, beating them 99-94.

Dennis Schroder put up a career-high 41 points against the NBA’s second-best defense. In this case, it was Atlanta’s defense that was superior. It clamped down on the perimeter and held Utah to 17.6 percent shooting from beyond the arc, a season-best. The win snapped a six-game losing streak for the Hawks and ended a nine-game winning streak for the Jazz.

Sometimes, certain teams just match up well against others. In this case, Hawks fans should take solace in the fact that there is one playoff squad out there that their team was able to handle.