The Hawks have their first NBA All-Star representatives.
Welcome to New York, Mike Budenholzer and Kyle Korver.
Budenholzer and his staff will coach the Eastern Conference All-Star team next month at Madison Square Garden. With a 110-91 victory over the Pacers Wednesday, the Hawks (35-8, .814) clinched the best record in the conference through games played Sunday, Feb. 1.
“It’s a credit to our players, our front office and our entire organization,” Budenholzer said of earning coaching duties. “I really feel strongly about our assistant coaches; I think they do an amazing job. It’s a great honor but it’s our players that put us in this position. It’s the players that deserve the credit.”
The Hawks tied a franchise record with their 14th straight win Wednesday. They have won 28 of the past 30 games (.933) on an incredible run. Budenholzer was named the NBA’s Coach of the Month for December by leading the Hawks to a 14-2 record. They have not lost in January.
“We are very happy for him,” Korver said. “Bud has done an incredible job the last couple of years. He has gained the respect of the locker room but doing it in a way where he still created a really fun atmosphere. We love playing here. We love playing for him. We believe in what he preaches. We really enjoy him as a person. It’s really rare to find a basketball coach that gets both, gets the X’s and O’s and also gets life. …
“He has done the best job of any coach I have ever been around and I’ve played for some great coaches.”
Budenholzer is the first Hawks to earn NBA All-Star Game coaching honors since Lenny Wilkens during the 1993-94 season. The Hawks assistant coaches are Kenny Atkinson, Darvin Ham, Taylor Jenkins, Charles Lee, Neven Spahija and Ben Sullivan.
Korver will take part in the 3-point shooting contest as part of All-Star weekend. The event will be held Saturday, Feb. 14 at Barclays Center. Korver is the NBA leader in 3-point field goal percentage at 53.5 percent. He is shooting .620 (31 of 50) from long range in the past eight games.
The Hawks could have more All-Star representatives. The starters for the game will be announced Thursday and reserves on Jan. 29. The team is likely to have at least one, and maybe more, of the seven reserve spots. The Hawks have a chance to be represented in the Rising Stars Challenge with Pero Antic and Dennis Schroder. Those announcements will be made Jan. 28.
