Atlanta Hawks - the San Antonio Spurs of the East

PARIS (George Eddy's International Show) - At the start of the 2014-15 NBA season, the two big surprises in the Eastern Conference were the Toronto Raptors and Washington Wizards.

Now, without a doubt, the big story is the Atlanta Hawks, a team that resembles the San Antonio Spurs like two drops of water and sent four players to the All-Star Game in New York.

The Hawks, with basically the same roster, have gone from 38-44 (46% winning percentage) last season to 43-12 (78%) this season which is an incredible progression in such a short period of time.

The best team in the East is coached by Gregg Popovich's former lead assistant, Mike Budenholzer, who was elected coach of the month for December and January, and who coached his four players at the All-Star Game.

In record time, Budenholzer has transmitted the DNA for the Spurs' success to his players in Atlanta building a team concept around great passing and three-point shooting but also around an efficient help defense with tight rotations.

The players all buy into this sharing philosophy on both ends of the court and the result produces beautiful team basketball from a franchise that was better known in recent years for mediocre results on the court and various management problems off the court.

As with the Spurs, several international players play important roles for the soaring Hawks.

Al Horford plays the role of Tim Duncan as a starter and Dennis Schroder, Pero Antic and Thabo Sefolosha are key players off the bench.

Two of Budenholzer's assistants, Kenny Atkinson and Neven Spahija, have many years of international experience behind them. The US players aren't bad either as Jeff Teague has better stats than his role model, Tony Parker, this season, while Paul Milsap, Kyle Korver (51 percent from three-point range) and DeMarre Carroll are all playing the best basketball of their lives!

This amazing ensemble cast produced a franchise-record 19 straight wins that inspired the NBA to name the Hawks' starting five "Player of the Month" for January. We'd never seen that before!

For the first time in NBA history, a team went 17-0 in a calendar month and 14 times in January the Hawks made 10 or more three-pointers in a game. Wow!

As Korver points out, the Hawks' style is all about timing and rhythm. They don't have a Russell Westbrook to save the day with individual exploits. Instead, they have to do everything as a team.

As with the Golden State Warriors out West, the big question is, can the Hawks translate colossal regular season success into a deep playoff run? Neither conference leader has been able to do this in recent years, but it's this year or never for these two teams!

The eventual weaknesses that could hurt both teams in the post-season are turnovers generated from the passing game and physical defense pushing them off the three-point line and perturbing their rhythm.

Will their team defense and lack of playoff experience hold up against the scrutiny and adjustments of a seven-game playoff series?

We will soon find out because strong teams that have been playing things coy up to now are going to show their real potential as we approach the playoffs.

Teams like the Chicago Bulls and Cleveland Cavaliers in the East and the Memphis Grizzlies and... San Antonio in the West.

What a twist of fate it would be to see the Spurs back in the NBA Finals facing their look-alike brethren from the Eastern Conference, the Atlanta Hawks!

George Eddy

FIBA

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