The Blue Workhorse

With an impressive 87-79 win over the New Orleans Hornets, one of the frontrunners for the Western Conference crown, the Atlanta Hawks have opened the season undefeated in their first three games for the first time since 1997.

It was also eleven years ago that the Hawks got their last 50-win season, a team goal they set coming into this season.

The word “TEAM” being in bold because that is exactly why Atlanta is currently 3-0. The Hawks are soaring because they are playing well together, particularly on the defensive end of the floor where they are currently the top team in the league allowing only 84 points per game…and that’s against three teams that each made the playoffs last season.

Coming into the game, New Orleans had averaged a league best 106.7 points in their first three games, but they were held to only 79 by the Hawks. How impressive is that? The Hornets scored less than 80 points only four times all of last season.

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Atlanta Hawks: Where Shock the World Happens - When attending Game 3, I saw a guy with a posterboard sign that simply read “Shock the World.” Last night for Game 6, everyone who attended was given a shirt with the same words branded across the front. Nearly every ‘expert’ predicted a series sweep, especially when Boston handily won the first two games, but the Hawks surprised many by winning Game 3. They then adopted the mantra wholeheartedly and startled many when they won …

Dwight Howard may really be Superman, and even if he isn’t, he at least knows the keys to winning a Slam Dunk Competition and he showed them last night in New Orleans.

Last night was the most innovative and creative dunk contest of recent memory. Not since 2000 when Vince Carter absolutely rocked the house in Oakland after the dunk contest had been on hiatus for a couple of years has the contest been as fun.

Al Horford has been playing great basketball for the Atlanta Hawks. Not only is he a possibility for the Rookie of the Year award, despite what Kevin Durant has done this year, but Horford could be the next Dwight Howard.