Atlanta Hawks to play Blazers in the Rose City
By John Buhler
The Atlanta Hawks look to carry their two-game winning streak to the Pacific Northwest when they take on the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night.
The Atlanta Hawks will make their lone trek to the Pacific Northwest of the 2015-16 NBA season when they take on the Portland Trail Blazers on a nationally televised game Wednesday night. While the 10:30 PM ET game at the Moda Center will air on Fox Sports Southeast, the game will air nationally on ESPN.
Atlanta has won its last two games by beating the Brooklyn Nets Saturday night and the Orlando Magic Monday evening. The Hawks are 25-17 on the year and are in fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings, percentage points behind the third place Chicago Bulls and 4.5 games back of the first place Cleveland Cavaliers.
Portland is still vying for a Western Conference playoff berth, despite undergoing a massive overhaul to its roster as a result of former All-NBA power forward LaMarcus Aldridge‘s decision to leave the Rose City for San Antonio to play for the Spurs. Portland is in ninth place in the West and only 0.5 games back of eight place Utah with a 19-25 record.
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While the Atlanta Hawks handled the Portland Trail Blazers, 106-97 in Portland’s lone trip to Atlanta this season on December 21st, Portland didn’t have the services of its two best players in their starting backcourt duo of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. Interestingly, that was the first game Lillard had missed in his young and promising NBA career.
Because of its distance from every other NBA city, Portland over the years has had a distinct home court advantage due to the circumstances of the lengthy travel placed on its opponents. Though the Blazers only boast a 10-9 record at the Moda Center this year, the Atlanta Hawks aren’t great on the road this season, with their 10-10 record away from Philips Arena.
Keep in mind that last year’s win in Portland when they were still a Western behemoth helped catapult the Atlanta Hawks on their rapid rise to the top of the Eastern Conference in January. Winning on the road in Portland is still a big deal in most NBA circles.
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Perhaps a win over the Blazers on Wednesday could help get the Hawks back to playing like a superior Eastern Conference team in the second half. We can only hope that the Rose City will again be kind to the Atlanta Hawks in 2016. Let’s Go Hawks!