After two seasons of solid, 40-win basketball in the ’11-12 and ’12-13 seasons only led to first-round playoff exits, the Atlanta Hawks needed to switch things up.
The franchise did this by signing forward Paul Millsap to a two-year deal on July 10, 2013. At the time, it seemed simply like a clever and affordable signing to replace long-time Atlanta mainstay Josh Smith.
Teaming Millsap with Al Horford, Jeff Teague and Kyle Korver saw mixed results to start. Millsap was the lone Hawk to make the All-Star game, while the Hawks sat at a middling 25-26 record at the break. Things got worse in late February as Al Horford suffered a torn pectoral muscle, forcing him to miss the rest of the season.
Millsap was thrust into a leadership role, but he wasn’t alone, as Jeff Teague began to make a jump as the season was closing; after being selected with the 19th overall pick in the 2009 draft, the point guard was seemingly coming into his own — something he would build on next season.
The squad suddenly began to show great promise and chemistry after barely sneaking into the playoffs as the eighth seed. They took the Paul George & Roy Hibbert-led Indiana Pacers (who were actually the top seed in the Eastern Conference) to seven hard-fought games.
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Millsap and Teague both averaged 19 PPG in the series and Korver shot nearly 43% from three. Despite their eventual defeat, Hawks fans were excited to see this team develop and play next season with the pending return of Al Horford. That surprising and eye-opening playoff performance also began to capture the attention of the Atlanta community at large, not just the basketball intelligentsia.
The team started the season the next season, as the team had only gone 5-5 through ten games. Then something magical happened.
On November 28th, the day after Thanksgiving that year, the Hawks beat the Pelicans to improve to 8-6. They started to fully realize their potential after this, winning their next nine games before falling to the Orlando Magic by one point in a home/road back-to-back. They then rattled off five more wins before a loss On December 26th to the Milwaukee Bucks.
On the 27th, they got back on track with a win vs. those same Bucks. Then, things really picked up.
The Hawks went undefeated in the month of January, an astonishing feat in its own right, highlighted by an incredible 19-game winning streak that captured the attention of the NBA at large, as well as the general public — whether they were NBA-savvy or not. Overall, Atlanta went 33-2 from November 28th to February 1st.
This period of time, with this Hawks team, was the probably the most enjoyable time for the Hawks franchise during its time in Atlanta.
Not only were the Hawks beating teams handily, but they were doing it with a beautiful, artistic style of basketball that was founded on ball movement and three-point shooting — the style of smooth, team-first play that Greg Popovich made famous in San Antonio.
It didn’t hurt that the starting five was an exceedingly likable group of skilled players who complemented each other perfectly. Though they have gone on to successful (and extremely lucrative) careers on other teams, their efforts will never be forgotten in Atlanta.
January was the defining month for this team. Not only did they not lose a game, their entire starting five was the Eastern Conference Player of the Month. That’s right: Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver, DeMarre Carroll, Paul Millsap and Al Horford shared the award for the singular best player of the month — something that will likely never happen again.
In February, while they did cool down a bit, losing four games, four Hawks were selected to the All-Star team ( Teague, Korver, Millsap, Horford) and were still firmly in control of the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
Mike Budenholzer led the team to 60 wins in total, which is a benchmark win number, en route to a Coach of the Year trophy.
While they did have one of the best starting five’s in the league, the bench did their thing as well. Youngsters like Rising star Dennis Schröder, the emjoi-tatted Mike Scott and the feisty forward Kent Bazemore all added solid minutes and played well.
Veteran defender Thabo Sefolosha brought his playoff experience (which he didn’t get to show in the playoffs due to injury) and former first overall pick Elton Brand added 13.5 minutes a game at age 35.
Shooters like Shelvin Mack, John Jenkins, Pero Antic and Austin Daye added some bench scoring, with rookie Adreian Payne receiving very limited minutes. Second-year big man Mike Muscala rounded out the squad.
When the playoffs rolled around, the Hawks were the first seed and had their eyes set on the franchise’s first title since 1956, when the team was still located in St. Louis.
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We know how it ends, of course. LeBron James, in his first year back in Cleveland, was just too much for the 60-win Hawks. The King steamrolled the Hawks to the tune of 31 points, 30 points, a 37-point, 18-rebound, 11-assist triple-double and 23 points in a 30-point, series-clinching victory. Atlanta packed it up after the Eastern Conference Finals, just four more wins away from a trip to the Finals.
Since then, the five players who won the Eastern Conference Player of the Month slowly faded to different teams, and the Hawks fell to the fourth seed in 2016, fifth seed in 2017 and finally, where the team stands today.
The Hawks are currently 20-44, meaning they’ve barely won more total games this entire season than they did in the month of January alone just three years ago. Dennis Schröder and Kent Bazemore, and Mike Muscala are the only players that remain from that heady 2014-15 team, with Dennis being one of the lone reasons Atlanta even has its meager 20 wins.
The near-constant losing these days make the 2014-15 Hawks team all the more special. Though times are tough, the Hawks should have a great chance to nab a future core in the 2018 draft.
There is a very popular quote by the late Dr. Seuss that should capture how Hawks fans should feel about this era: “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.”
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It’s unclear if this rebuild new GM Travis Schlenk is diving into will be successful, but even if the Hawks don’t ever recapture the magic (or win count) of the 2014-15 season in the future, at least we had this team: A truly great team that granted us four All-Stars, a 19-game win streak, a calendar month without a loss, 60 total wins and some unforgettable memories.