The Atlanta Hawks are Red Hot

The Atlanta Hawks have the best record in the NBA at 34-8 and there’s a good chance they’ll get win number 35 tonight when they host the 15-28 Indiana Pacers. The Hawks have won 13 in a row, are 27-2 since Thanksgiving, and are just five wins away from topping last season’s win total, when they were 38-44. Atlanta grabbed the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference last season, but was eliminated by the Pacers in the first round. Here they are in action against the Detroit Pistons on January 19th, win number 13 in their streak.

The Hawks don’t have that one big superstar who is at the top of the scoring stats (point guard Jeff Teague is the team leader with 17.2 point per game) but they are seventh in the league in scoring and have five players averaging in double figures. Shooting guard Kyle Korver has made 128 of his 239 three point shots, which is a league leading .536 clip, 66 percentage points better than second place Courtney Lee of Memphis. But a big part of the Hawks’ success has been their defense. Atlanta is holding opponents to a league lowest 96.3 points per game.