Hawks seek return to offensive output

By Bud L. Ellis

There’s no place like home for the holidays, and the Atlanta Hawks will enjoy plenty of home cooking the first three weeks of December.

Starting with Wednesday’s home contest against Toronto, the Hawks will play six of their next eight contests inside the (apologizes to Cubs’ fans everywhere for this) friendly confines of Philips Arena. The combined record of the opposition in the next eight: 53-88.

Not exactly a list of world-beaters, this upcoming stretch for the 12-5 Hawks. Toronto, which the Hawks face twice, is 7-12. There are home games against 0-17 New Jersey, 4-14 New York and 6-12 Memphis in the next three weeks.

Is it too much to ask the Hawks to go 6-2 during this stretch? If Atlanta could do that, the Hawks would be sitting at 18-7 after 25 games, a 59-win pace that would set the franchise record for victories in a single season.

But these Hawks have much more on their minds than accomplishments from November to April. After reaching the playoffs the past two seasons and winning a postseason series for the first time in a decade last spring, the Hawks really believe they can make a push deep into the Eastern Conference playoffs.

But wins – no matter the caliber of the opposition – all count just the same. And the next three weeks, the Hawks have a great chance to pile up some marks in the W column.

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Wednesday, December 2, 2009 at 9:39 pm by bud

Tags: Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Cubs, Memphis Grizzlies, New Jersey Nets, New York Knicks, Philips Arena, Toronto Raptors