The Atlanta Hawks Recent Winning Streak
After a late rally by the Houston Rockets in the 4th quarter followed up by a strong win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Atlanta Hawks have extended their winning streak to seven games under new interim head coach Nate McMillan and hand the Rockets their 17th straight loss as well as the second in a row for the Thunder.
via Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo
Since relieving ex-coach Lloyd Pierce of his duties, the Hawks have looked and played pretty well. Some were displeased with Pierce being fired after many of his key players and free-agent pickups this summer were inactive throughout parts of the season. ESPN First Take’s Stephen A. Smith was one of the many that were not happy with the dismissal of the Hawks coach calling it “suspicious and alarmed”.
Since the All-star Break, the team’s offense has looked very fluid, with more players sharing and scoring the ball as of late. Win number five for the Hawks saw reserve player Nathan Knight come up big with 16 points and nine rebounds as they were playing shorthanded at the big man spot without Clint Caplea and rookie center Onyeka Okongwu. Atlanta’s star point guard Trae Young has also benefited from the coaching change as the offense has opened up a bit more since he’s getting contributions from everywhere, which opens up the floor for him to create more as the point guards and floor general.
Free-agent pick-up Danilo Gallinari has come together recently as well as he’s been a driving force for this mid-season run as he has dropped 20 points in four of the last six games. He’s finally earning that contract he was given this summer as he had been very inconsistent since joining the team this season.
With the Atlanta Hawks now sitting at the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference and eight games behind the Philadelphia 76ers for first place, they are looking to make a playoff push.
A name to mention is power forward John Collins, as his availability is still up in the air as the team is winning more games. However, Atlanta is still unsure if they would want to pay him or match any contract he gets this summer as he is a restricted free agent.
This recent surge of team success should have the front office rethinking how they would like to move forward next season as Collins has been tremendous over this stretch, playing a lot of center instead of his natural position at power forward.
Over the last six games, he has averaged 17 points and eight rebounds, as this should either bring in more trade interest from teams or have the Hawks want to pay him his worth in today’s market. Collins turned down a 90-million-dollar extension from the group and has been linked to the association's worst team, record-wise, the Minnesota Timberwolves, as a possible trade destination.
The team has an eight-game home stretch after playing the Oklahoma City Thunder on the road as they go for eight straight wins. This home stretch will be challenging as they will play teams in the upper echelon of the league like the Los Angeles Lakers, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Phoenix Suns and even the Denver Nuggets. As an interim head coach McMillan is looking to keep this job on a permit basis next season, and with the team keeps playing like this, he’s going to have one hell of a case for keeping his role as head coach.