1. The Atlanta Hawks won’t lose. – Today marks the one-month mark since the Hawk’s last loss, a now-inexplicable 30-point loss to the Bucks at home on Dec. 26th. Since then, Atlanta has ripped off a franchise-record 16 games in a row, and often making it look easy. The Hawks easily disposed of all four of their foes last week by double-digits, including a resurgent Pistons team and a healthy Thunder squad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avb4hyfFLSM
Thanks to their current winning ways, the Hawks now boast the best road record in the NBA at 17-5, and are second only to the Warriors record-wise at 37-8. Atlanta head coach Mike Budenholzer has developed a team that plays as a cohesive unit, with players who are happy to pass up a decent shot if it means a great shot for a teammate. The Hawks possess plenty of shooters and capable scorers, yet have a leading scorer in Jeff Teague who averages only 17.1 points per game.
Does this mean that Atlanta is a low-scoring team? Nope, they currently rank 6th in the league with 103.4 points per game. Does that come at the expense of the defense? Nope, the Hawks are No.1 in the league in points allowed, with 96.2. And regarding that pass-oriented offense? The Hawks are second in the league with 26.2 assists per game. If that’s not a well-rounded team, I don’t know what is. The playoffs are looking more and more interesting lately, and a Warriors/Hawks final sounds real good right about now.
2. The injuries just won’t stop..but that didn’t stop LaMarcus Aldridge. – Kobe Bryant, Brandon Jennings, and LaMarcus Aldridge were among the notable players who went down last week with significant injuries. Bryant officially elected to have shoulder surgery today after a tear in his rotator cuff was discovered last week, shutting him down for the season. This is his third consecutive season to end prematurely due to injury. Jennings ruptured his Achilles against Milwaukee on Saturday, and will be out six-to-nine months. His injury is devastating news for a Pistons team that’s making moves in the Eastern Conference playoff hunt, going 13-4 since ridding themselves of Josh Smith several weeks ago. It remains to be seen if D.J. Augustin can elevate his game to fill the void.
LaMarcus Aldridge injured his thumb last week, and was expected to miss 6-8 weeks while recovering from surgery to repair the torn ligament, leaving the already-depleted Trailblazers front court in an even worse position. However, at the team’s Saturday shoot-around, Portland’s star player realized ‘hey, it’s not like playing will hurt it any worse, and that medical team is pretty good at taping things, so why not give it a shot?’ Give it a shot he did, going through contact drills and declaring himself good to go. He scored 26 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the Blazers’ 103-96 win at home over the Wizards on Sunday, much to the home fan’s approval. It seems that Aldridge will be around as long as he can take the pain, and Sunday was a good sign.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SkRLSfztu0
3. Klay Thompson is really good. – The “other half” of the Warriors acclaimed backcourt stole the show on Friday, when he broke the NBA record for points in a quarter with 37.
Thompson didn’t miss a shot in the historic third quarter, and finished the game with a career-high 52 points. Don’t be surprised to see him named as an All-Star reserve on Jan 29th.
4. James Harden is on a tear. – The Rockets’ bearded leader averaged 37.0 points in four games last week, highlighted by a 45-point, seven-assist performance against the Pacers on Jan 19th.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKb-oTd3rx0
Harden is leading the league in scoring this season with a current average of 27.6 points per game. His 6.8 assists and 5.6 rebounds per game aren’t too shabby either.
5. The All-Star voting process is still underutilized, but don’t expect it to change soon. – The voter turnout for this year’s All-Star ballots actually saw a 28 percent increase in fan voting with more than 25 million votes cast. Still, the turnout seems rather low when considering the fact that Stephen Curry, the leading vote getter this year, received only around 1.5 million votes. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban agrees, and would like to see the league consider expanding rosters and having GM’s and coaches vote. While the fans did get it mostly right this year (with the exceptions of players like Kobe Bryant, Kyle Lowry, and perhaps Carmelo Anthony,) there is still ample room for improvement.
