Atlanta Hawks top Philadelphia 76ers, make NBA history in 91-85 win
The Atlanta Hawks mailed in their 19th straight win against the Philadelphia 76ers Saturday night at Phillips Arena by a final score of 91-85. Historically, this means that Coach Bud and the boys are the best team in Atlanta franchise history, not to mention they are the first team to go 17-0 in a single month in NBA history. The Hawks defense has been the calling card all season and they had to answer the call once again against a pesky Sixers squad.
The Hawks jumped out to a big lead in the first quarter with the help of Paul Millsap and Al Horford working the boards on both offense and defense. The duo would combine for 11 rebounds and 20 points in the first half. Atlanta would also work tough on defense, holding the 76ers to only 10 points in the first quarter.
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76ers point guard Michael Carter-Williams would bring Philadelphia back into the game scoring 13 points, but another star would emerge from the Hawks bench in John Jenkins as he would take advantage of his minutes with 9 points and 3 rebounds. Kyle Korver kept living beyond the arch as Jeff Teague dished the ball around with 5 assists as well. Atlanta would go into halftime leading 49-34.
Third quarter action seemed to follow suit for Atlanta this season: slow. Not that the offense has struggled, just taking time to get back up to speed. Sixers center Nerlens Noel would pull boards and contribute 7 points, but the Hawks would turn to Millsap and Korver to drain key shots to keep a healthy double digit lead throughout the third. Korver added a few of three-pointers to his resume for All-Star weekend while Millsap added 2 steals and 1 block to his stats.
The Sixers would make a game of it in the fourth. SG Robert Covington would pull some key defensive rebounds and up his total points scored to 10. Dennis Schroder would come off the Hawks bench to score 12 points and put in another night of quality minutes. Even though Philadelphia take the lead late, the Hawks remained unshakeable. While the crowd at Philips bit their nails, Schroder nailed a clutch three while Horford drained two to put his total at 23.
Atlanta improves to 39-8 on the season and gets Sunday off to catch their breath. The Atlanta Hawks travel to New Orleans to take on the 25-22 Pelicans on Monday evening, and they’ll be looking to extend the streak to an unfathomable 20 consecutive games.