The Hawks’ record-breaking season continues – in impressive fashion.
Atlanta tied its franchise record for wins in a season as No. 57 came with a dominant performance. The Hawks dismantled the Nets wire-to-wire 131-99 Saturday night at Philips Arena to tie the totals from the 1993-94 and 1986-87 seasons.
“It’s great but I feel like once the season is over we can sit back and look at so many of the things that we’ve done,” Al Horford said. “But now, I feel like we are all so caught up in focusing and keep getting better each game.”
The Hawks also helped their own cause in improving the first-round draft pick they will swap with the Nets in the next NBA draft. The Hawks have another chance to do damage to the Nets in the standings, and perhaps drop them into the lottery, on Wednesday in Brooklyn.
There was some bad news.
Just as the Hawks were returning to full health, All-Star Paul Millsap injured his right shoulder late in the second quarter after he collided with Earl Clark at center court chasing a loose ball. Millsap left the game holding his shoulder but remained on the bench until finally heading to the locker room in the final minute of the half. He did not return due to what the Hawks termed only as a right shoulder injury.
“I thought he got ran over,” Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said of the play. “It was a loose ball and both guys were going for it. He got hit pretty good.”
The Hawks had no update on Millsap’s injury following the game. He will likely undergo X-rays and MRI exams in the next several days. The Hawks were winning by 30 points when Millsap left the game.
“Hopefully he’s OK,” DeMarre Carroll said. “Paul is a tough guy. He’s going to play in the playoffs regardless.”
The Hawks (57-19, 33-5) have won four straight over the Nets, including all three matchups this season.
Carroll and Horford led the Hawks with 20 points apiece in a game they led by as many as 39 points and finished with a season-high point total. The two combined to shoot 17 of 21 from the field. Jeff Teague (17), Thabo Sefolosha (12), Kent Bazemore (11), Kyle Korver (10) and Shelvin Mack (10) all scored in double-figures as the Hawks shot 60 percent, including 17 of 33 from 3-point range. None of the starters played more than 27 minutes.
The Hawks had 40 assists on 49 field goals, two shy of their season-high of 42 set in a win over the Kings. There have been three 40-assist games in the NBA this season and the Hawks have two of them.
“Unselfish ball club we have here,” Teague said. “When guys are knocking down shots, it’s a lot easier to get those assists.”
The Celtics moved into the eighth and final spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race and would be the Hawks’ first-round opponent. The Nets remained seventh but are a half-game ahead of the Celtics and a game ahead of the Heat.
“The most important thing was a sense of urgency,” Carroll said. “We came in with the mindset of really getting ready for the playoffs, tuning up. We had a meeting and a film session and coach really stressed the importance of these games leading into the playoffs.”
The Nets (35-41) had a six-game win streak snapped. Bojan Bogdanovic had 19 points. Former Hawk Joe Johnson was limited to four points on 1 of 5 shooting. The Hawks forced the Nets into 21 turnovers.
The Hawks were coming off three days off and the Nets played their fourth game in five days.
“The unselfishness and making shots tonight really stood out,” Budenholzer said. “The defense for a lot of the first half put us in a good place also. We were fortunate on the scheduling. We had a few days off and they are on the tail end of a pretty tough schedule.”
The Hawks led by as many as 27 points in the first half and took at 66-48 advantage into halftime. The Hawks shot 64.1 percent through two quarters, including 65 percent (13 of 20) in the second period.
The Hawks had three double-digit scorers by halftime with Horford (16), Teague (10) and Carroll (10) doing early damage.
The Hawks host the Suns on Tuesday.
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