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Atlanta Hawks win third straight, beat Trail Blazers 104-98

By John Buhler

Jan 20, 2016; Portland, OR, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Jeff Teague (0) looks to make a move on Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard (0) during the first quarter of the game at Moda Center at the Rose Quarter. Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 20, 2016; Portland, OR, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Jeff Teague (0) looks to make a move on Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard (0) during the first quarter of the game at Moda Center at the Rose Quarter. Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Atlanta Hawks complete the season sweep of the Portland Trail Blazers Wednesday night, 104-98 at the Moda Center to extend their winning streak to three games.

The Atlanta Hawks win the first of their four games on this West Coast road trip by defeating the Portland Trail Blazers, 104-98 Wednesday night at the Moda Center. This was the Atlanta Hawks’ 26th win on the season and their third in a row, as they completed the season sweep of the Trail Blazers in 2015-16.

This game between the Hawks and the Trail Blazers was a constant battle between Atlanta’s strong frontcourt trio of Kent Bazemore, Al Horford and Paul Millsap versus the dynamic backcourt duo of Portland’s Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum.

It did not disappoint as the stars were out Wednesday night in the Rose City. C.J. McCollum led all scorers with 28 for the Blazers and Lillard had a strong second half with 18 points and six assists.

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However, Atlanta’s frontcourt trio accounted for 62 of the Hawks’ 104 points Wednesday night. Kent Bazemore had a strong showing in a nationally televised game with 23 points on 8-15 shooting from the floor, 3-6 shooting from beyond the arc, and a perfect 4-4 at the charity stripe. Bazemore also had five rebounds and five assists in his all-around solid game.

His play against the Trail Blazers went a long way in silencing the national media’s obsession with how Atlanta will go about solving the small forward position in DeMarre Carroll‘s absence. Kent Bazemore has already solved that problem for the Atlanta Hawks in their first 43 games of 2015-16.

Paul Millsap belongs in Toronto for the 2016 All-Star Game as the Atlanta Hawks’ best player this season. He nearly had another double-double against the Blazers with 23 points on 7-10 shooting from the field, 3-3 from three, and 6-7 from the line to go along with nine rebounds, two assists, and two steals.

Al Horford had 16 points on a high-volume shooting night for him (7-17) as well as eight rebounds. Jeff Teague did a great job playing the point against a star in Damian Lillard. Teague had 14 points on 6-16 shooting, six assists, and two rebounds.

The Atlanta Hawks won’t have much time to celebrate their close win over the Portland Trail Blazers as they will play the Sacramento Kings in Sleep Train Arena for the last time ever tomorrow night. The Kings will move into the brand-new Golden 1 Center next season in Downtown Sacramento.

Next: Atlanta Hawks: Making a 2016 NBA trade deadline deal?

Tipoff for the Hawks’ second game of a back-to-back is at 10:00 PM ET and the game will air on Fox Sports Southeast. Let’s Go Hawks!

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