Atlanta Hawks: 5 Takeaways from Victory vs. Phoenix Suns

Takeaways from an Atlanta Hawks victory over the Phoenix Suns.

The Atlanta Hawks handed the Phoenix Suns their 17th straight victory last night in thrilling fashion. A close game throughout, the Hawks managed to pull away late thanks to a cascade of miscues from Phoenix and some clutch buckets and defense from the Hawks’ young core.

Despite a combined 55 points from Devin Booker and Tyler Johnson, two players that always tend to light up the box score against Atlanta, the Suns were unable to execute down the stretch and looked fairly lost as the game went on.

The Suns were so inept in the final frame of this contest that the team was unable to produce a made field goal over the final 4:16 of this game. Combine that with the 17 straight losses, and you begin to fathom why this team is a near-lock to nab the number one overall pick in May’s NBA Draft Lottery.

However, the team that truly deserves it due to playing hard every night and instilling a strong culture is the Atlanta Hawks. With this win, the Hawks sweep the season series over Phoenix and the team’s disparate records (Phoenix: 11-50, Atlanta: 20-40) represent how far apart these two teams’ rebuilds really are.

The Suns have been rebuilding for upwards of 4 seasons, and they’ve still yet to build a strong culture around any particular style of play or singular player.

The Hawks, by contrast, are only in the second year of a rebuild (first if you don’t count the holdover Budenholzer season last year), yet they are already in a better position thanks to the strong locker room the team has in place.

Just some food for thought before we dig into takeaways from this contest.