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Hawks grab 18th straight win behind Jeff Teague's fancy moves
The Atlanta Hawks had a pretty good Thursday, with three of the team's starters — point guard Jeff Teague, forward Paul Millsap, and big man Al Horford — being announced as participants in February 15's NBA All-Star Game at Madison Square Garden. Along with head coach Mike Budenholzer, that trio will give the Hawks the biggest presence of any team at the event. It's a deserved honor for a franchise that has vastly exceeded expectations to look like the favorite in the East.
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Friday was arguably even better for Atlanta. Facing the visiting Portland Trail Blazers with their franchise-record and season-high 17-game winning streak on the line, the Hawks controlled the fourth quarter 36-25 to come away with a 105-99 victory. Teague had the two most impressive plays of the final period, with the first coming on this ball-fake that sent fellow All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge and Nicolas Batum flying away from the basket:
The second came just outside of the final minute when Teague confused Chris Kaman with this gorgeous cut dribble:
Despite these fantastic plays, Teague was far from the most productive Hawk throughout the game. He finished with 13 points on just 6-of-17 shooting (plus eight assists). The other All-Stars, Millsap (21 points, eight rebounds three steals) and Horford (17 points, eight rebounds, three steals) were better.
The win brings the Hawks' record to 39-8, already one win more than their entire total from last season. If the Hawks win Saturday against the visiting Philadelphia 76ers, they will finish January with a perfect record of 17-0. As our Jay Busbee wrote earlier Friday, it's a very good time to be a Hawks fan.
Aldridge starred for the Blazers in the loss with 37 points (15-of-24 FG) and 11 rebounds. On the same day he expressed his dissatisfaction with being left off the All-Star team, point guard Damian Lillard struggled with 13 points on 6-of-20 shooting (plus 11 assists and six turnovers).
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at efreeman_ysports@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
