Hawks playing better than (I) expected early, now 4-2

[nba is the worst]

The Hawks have started the season with an impressive road win in Miami Monday night, refusing to fold under pressure and some nice 3-pt shooting from semi has-beens like Tmac and Pargo (9-16 from 3-pt range for the game).

Last night, they dominated the Bulls for 42 minutes or so, although obviously running out of gas in the road B2B at the end, eventually losing by 2 due to ft line choking by multiple players (14-25, 54%), and a horrible shooting night by consensus "Most Overpaid in the League" Joe Johnson (10 pts on 3-17 FG).

PG Jeff Teague is really playing pretty well, avging 12.3 ppg on .536 FG% with 4.7 apg and 2 TO pg in 31.7 mpg - although he missed 2 fts with 17 second remaining and a 1-pt lead, and couldn't stop two Rose layups inside of a minute.

Thibs followed those signature Rose layups with a nicely disguised pass play from Noah to Deng for a layup. It came out of a timeout with 7 seconds left and the score tied as the Hawks obviously expected Rose to get the ball, nice coaching!

Thursday, they host the Heat on the second of a Heat B2B - it will be interesting to see if the Heat's lack of depth and struggles vs zones continue.

[Donoghus]

That game against the Bulls last night was a battle of attrition. Pretty brutal to watch.

Hawks seem like they've always been; an athletic but very undisciplined and inconsistent team and their free throws down the stretch were awful.

[Snakehead]

Josh Smith hasn't even really been playing too well for them yet either.  Teague has played well, just needed more minutes out there. 

The Hawks are a team everyone overlooks but they can make some noise.  Don't expect too much out of them though.

[Who]

I like the Hawks bench more so this season than in years past.

Kirk Hinrich is a very good main backup guard. Tracy McGrady has become a solid backup wing. Zaza Pachulia is a good backup center. Vladamir Radmanovic is a very under-rated (especially on this site) combo forward. Jason Collins gives them a terrific third string center. Jannero Pargo is a good third string PG. Jerry Stackhouse and Willie Green are both solid third string twos.

They have a much deeper bench than in recent seasons. More options, more range skill-set / matchups.   

Of course, the starting lineup is still the key and is not good enough to push them into contention. They badly need either Josh Smith or Al Horford to develop into a go-to scorer. Joe Johnson needs more help from those two than he is getting.

[nba is the worst]

Of course it's too early to tell, but the Hawks are currently #1 in points against, 9th in opponents' FG%, and #2 in scoring differential at +9.3 ppg.

It's just weird to see the Hawks #1 in anything defensively...