The Hawks’ rise to the top spot in the Eastern Conference by winning 18 of their past 20 games is getting noticed.
ESPN's Marc Stein released his NBA Power Rankings on Monday and the Hawks sit atop the list. In addition NBA.com's John Schuhmann moved the Hawks to the No. 1 spot in his rankings Monday.
Of the Hawks moving past the Warriors, who own the best record in the NBA, Stein wrote: “Yet we simply couldn’t resist the Hawks when it came to pinpointing a new No. 1 in the wake of Chicago’s recent home loss to a Brooklyn squad not known for beating upper-echelon teams. No team in the East has a better record against the West (8-2) or a better record against teams at .500 and up (10-5) than Atlanta. The Hawks are likewise a glittering 18-2 since Thanksgiving and essentially inched past the Warriors for the most coveted perch on our list by going into Portland on Saturday night and beating our No. 4 team on the road … on the second night of a back-to-back.”
The Hawks jumped up from the No. 3 spot last week, surpassing the Bulls and Trail Blazers. The Warriors remain second.
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