The Atlanta Hawks have seen tremendous production from their big men
The Atlanta Hawks have seen their fortunes change since they returned to their fortress, State Farm Arena. After suffering six-straight losses the Hawks have got their season back on track through a tremendous winning streak which has now extended to five games. This means that they were able to put the disasterous road trip behind them.
The five games at home were so much better on so many levels. The Hawks played tremendous defense and players who were struggling in the previous six games played a lot better. This meant that the average winning margin for the homestand was over 14 points and no game was decided by less than 10 points in the Hawks favor.
One of the biggest reasons for this was that Clint Capela got back into game-shape after a very interupted preseason. He is back running the floor with incredible energy and defending at the usual high level that we associate with Capela.
The Atlanta Hawks have received tremendous service from their big men
Capela has averaged 14.2 points, 14.0 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.2 steals, and 1.0 blocks for the homestand in just 30.4 minutes per game. He has shot the ball an an insane 71.7 percent from the floor for these five games in what can only be descrived as incredibly efficient.
John Collins has also been tremendous during this period, improving on his stellar performances on the road. He has stepped it up with 17.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 2.4 blocks, and 1.0 steals in 32.8 minutes per game. Yes, you read that right, Collins averaged 2.4 blocks per game over the homestand.
He had three blocks against the Charlotte Hornets and five against the OKC Thunder in the last two games. He actually had one or more block in every game of the last five. The only issue that he had during this span of games was that he went 2-of-10 from beyond the arc but given how well he played, we can forgive Collins his poor 3-point shooting.
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The next game for the Hawks is against the struggling San Antonio Spurs and the Hawks big men should be able to continue this play. This will hopefully allow the Hawks to extend their current win-streak to six and hopefully continue their move up the standings.