The Hawks’ win streak is not only the best in franchise history.
It’s the best in Atlanta professional sports history.
The improbable, undeniable, incredible run continues.
The Hawks extended their win streak to 16 straight games with a 112-100 victory over the lowly Timberwolves Sunday at Philips Arena. The Braves had a 15-game win streak in 2000. Now, the Hawks stand alone.
The Hawks (37-8, 20-3 home) have also won 30 of the past 32 games. They are undefeated in January and equaled the franchise record for wins in a month at 14. They also won 14 games in Dec. 2014 and Jan. 1997. The 37 wins is also the most for the team before the All-Star break.
“It’s all about W’,” Jeff Teague said. “We’ll take them any way we can get them. I can’t complain. I like winning. I’m enjoying it. I hope it continues.”
Paul Millsap led the Hawks with 20 points and was one of six Hawks double-digit scorers. Al Horford (19 points), Teague (15), DeMarre Carroll (14), Kyle Korver (13) and Dennis Schroder (11) were the others.
The Hawks continued their streak of holding double-digit leads. They have led by at least 10 points at some point in each of the 16 games on the current win streak. They improved to 32-1 on the season when leading a double-digit advantage.
The Timberwolves (7-36), with the worst record in the NBA, have lost four straight and 20 out of 22 games. Thaddeus Young, the Georgia Tech product, led the Timberwolves with a game-high 26 points.
“Just the fact that games like this, ugly games, we still find ways to win,” Carroll said of the Hawks’ streak. “On the games we play really good we find ways to win. Whatever a team throws at us, we still find ways to win. I think that is the biggest thing for us, just finding ways to win.”
The Hawks led by as many as 18 points in the first half and took a 61-47 advantage into intermission. The Hawks are now 31-2 overall and 16-0 at home when entering the third quarter with a lead.
The Hawks had three double-digit scorers by halftime in Teague (11), Millsap (10) and Horford (10) as they shot 60.5 percent from the field through two quarters. They Hawks outscored the Timberwolves 36-23 in the second quarter.
The Timberwolves cut their deficit to nine points, 86-77, heading into the final quarter. They got as close as six points, 102-96, with 2:54 left. However, Carroll and Korver hit back-to-back 3-pointers to extinguish any notion of a comeback.
The Timberwolves held a 37-29 rebound advantage and were 20 of 25 from the free-throw line. Both were areas of concern for coach Mike Budenholzer entering the game. Still, the Hawks found a way to defeat an inferior opponent.
“Taking care of the boards, taking care of the free-throw line continue to be things we talk about to improve,” Budenholzer said. “To find a way to win today when we don’t really play our best is a good sign.”
The Hawks played 10 players and each scored, nine had at least one rebound and eight had at least one assist.
The Hawks improved to 4-0 on their seven-game homestand and host the Nets on Wednesday.
“We are playing a basketball that we can sustain,” Thabo Sefolosha said. “It’s not anybody doing something out of the ordinary that makes us win. Everybody is playing to their character. Everybody is playing to their role. It’s working for us. I think the pace out there is great. We keep our mind. Sometimes we are up, sometimes we are down coming into the fourth quarter but we just find a way to do what we do best.”
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