The Atlanta Hawks, fresh off the series victory against the New York Knicks, took home-court advantage in the first game of their second straight playoff series. What is impressive is that this time they beat the Philadelphia 76ers who had the best record in the Eastern Conference this season.
They did it on the back of their star point guard Trae Young who was unstoppable in the first half. leading the Hawks to a 20 point lead at the break. The 76ers would come back and make things uncomfortable for the Hawks at the end, but they would fall short.
The Hawks had some really good contributions from most of their players. John Collins was huge down the stretch with five points in 30 seconds. Bogdan Bogdanovic hit a 3-point shot on a broken play and then hit two free throws to put the game out of reach for the 76ers.
The Atlanta Hawks have announced they are a threat
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The Hawks looked like the Golden State Warriors championship teams in the first half. They were on fire from deep and led by as much as 26 points. However, the 76ers have been one of the best teams in the league all season and were not going to lay down without a fight.
The thing is, it does not actually matter from here what happens with the Hawks. It would be great for the team to win this series and get to the conference finals. They have overachieved to get to this point, and now they have the home-court advantage over the No. 1 seed.
They were only expected to get to the play-in tournament and instead they have learned a lot about themselves in the first-round series against the Knicks. They are also gaining experience against the 76ers.
They have shown that if they are healthy that they are going to be a threat in the next couple of seasons. There is also a chance that the Hawks will retain John Collins as he is enjoying winning. They will sign Nate McMillan as their coach once this playoff run is over so Collins will know what his role is going to be should he choose to stay.
Thanks to the win in the first game of this series, the Hawks have shown that they are legit. The future is bright for this playoff series and for the next few seasons.