During the first-half of the NBA season the Atlanta Hawks were the surprise of the league as they finished on top of the Eastern Conference before the All-Star break. They got four players on the All-Star roster while putting up a 19-game win streak in the process. However, it does not matter what happens in the first half of the year as the Hawks must prove the win streak was no fluke while finishing strong to get into the postseason. That begins on Friday as Atlanta faces off against the second-best team in the East, the Toronto Raptors.
The Hawks sputtered before the All-Star break. Their 19-game win streak ended with the team going 3-3 while sitting 6 ½ games up from the Raptors in the Eastern Conference standings. The team opted to make no moves before the trade deadline but could still make one more roster addition as Ray Allen continues to remain an option for the Hawks while he considers coming back for the second half of the NBA season. He would join Jeff Teague, Kyle Korver, Al Horford and Paul Millsap who all played on the Eastern Conference All-Star team.
Atlanta is going to try and avoid its first back-to-back loss since early November as they face off against the Raptors at home. The team fell to the Boston Celtics right before the break on a last-second shot by Evan Turner. The Toronto Raptors will come to Phillips Arena with a four-game road win streak while currently leading their division by 14 ½ games. DeMar DeRozan will be an x-factor for the Raptors as the team needs him to improve after shooting just 33.3 percent while going 1 for 8 from long range in his past six games.
The Raptors have had the Hawks' number this season. They beat Atlanta in the season opener while defeating them again on the road in November. However, they allowed Atlanta to shoot 60.9 percent from the field in a loss back in the middle of January. While the Hawks are shooting well from long range, they are struggling by getting outscored in the paint while getting outrebounded.
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