The Atlanta Hawks’ loss to the New Orleans Pelicans may have ended their 19-game winning streak, but the loss didn’t negate their January of historic proportions.
The Hawks finished the month of January with an NBA record 17 wins and zero losses. The accomplishment was honored Wednesday evening as the NBA announced its conference players of the month.
The @ATLHawks Starting Five & @JHarden13 of the @HoustonRockets named @Kia NBA Players of the Month for January! pic.twitter.com/Z3W41LTHkf
— NBA (@NBA) February 5, 2015
The Atlanta Hawks’ Twitter account quickly responded, further hyping the historic news.
The NBA has rewarded our starting 5 after a historic January. Check out these amazing stats: http://t.co/HJzTNqLfoz pic.twitter.com/aA4QU1J4Ch — Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) February 5, 2015
Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer was gracious in accepting the honor prior to Wednesday’s divisional matchup against the Washington Wizards at Philips Arena.
We appreciate the recognition of our starters’ play during this past month. It is reflective of all the work our entire team and organization has put in. We place a strong emphasis on having the right approach every day and making daily improvement. Collectively, we know that we have a lot more work to do this season and look forward to continue growing as a team.”
The Atlanta Hawks have set the bar high, with the starting five of Al Horford, Paul Millsap, DeMarre Carroll, Kyle Korver and Jeff Teague being the first in league history to share the award. They are only the second group of players from one team to share the honor since the Dallas Mavericks’ trio of Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash and Michael Finley.
To put their impressive January run in perspective, here are some stats as posted in the team’s official announcement.
In January, the Hawks led the NBA in 3FG% (.415) and assists (459), while leading the East in point differential (11.9), ppg (105.6), 3FGM (184), FG% (.481), FGM (659), apg (27.0), A/TO ratio (2.00) and stl/TO ratio (0.68). Atlanta went 9-0 at home and 8-0 on the road for the month, including a 7-0 mark against the West (3-0 on the road).”
Those numbers are clear indicators that the Atlanta Hawks were undoubtedly the best team in the Eastern Conference over that span.
Previous Tweet Post:
Tweet of the Night: Ricky Rubio Reacts to Damian Lillard’s Dunk Over Rudy Gobert
Michael Brumagin writes the Tweet of the Day for SheridanHoops.com and is also a correspondent for BleacherReport.com. Follow @mbrumagin