The Atlanta Hawks had, for a large chunk of this season, endured so many nagging injuries and roster permutations that it was quite difficult to envision the result of a static and settled rotation.
Seemingly that moment has arrived, and to suggest that the Hawks are enjoying the best-case scenario of that long-awaited stability is in no way hyperbolic.
With their 135-120 road win over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday, the Hawks extended their current winning streak to 11 games, tied for the fourth-longest streak in franchise history.
Atlanta will pursue a 12th straight win on Friday in Houston against the Rockets in the first game of a back-to-back that concludes with a home tilt against the Golden State Warriors on Saturday.
The Hawks will arrive in Houston with a relatively clean injury report and quickly climbing the Eastern Conference standings. Atlanta concluded Wednesday in eighth place in the East but only a half-game behind the Orlando Magic for sixth and a position avoiding the postseason play-in tournament.
Atlanta has established a viable core paced by the quartet of Jalen Johnson, Dyson Daniels, Onyeka Okongwu and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, and supported by veteran guard CJ McCollum. Jonathan Kuminga, acquired at the trade deadline from the Warriors, has fleshed out that group. He has been ruled out for Friday for injury management of his left knee.
Like Kuminga and McCollum, who arrived from Washington in the trade that sent Trae Young to the Wizards, Jock Landale (Memphis) and Corey Kispert (Washington) started this season elsewhere. It took a spell for the new pieces to blend with the old, but suddenly, the Hawks appear to have found the perfect blend.
“It’s a credit to all of them,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “It’s difficult to put yourself in their shoes, and I think the thing that stands out more than anything is guys have had to adjust to one another, which really means adjusting to roles. I think it was important for us to actually settle in, and really, (Wednesday) is the first night that has really happened with Jonathan as well.
“And it’s required all of them to really have a selfless attitude and truly put the team first.”
The Rockets, conversely, are spiraling. They dropped both decisions of a two-game set against the visiting Los Angeles Lakers, including a 124-116 loss on Wednesday that dropped Houston into a tie for fifth in the West with the Denver Nuggets.
For all the consternation over their late-game offense, the Rockets were a sieve defensively against the Lakers. Houston allowed Luka Doncic to finish one rebound shy of a 40-point triple-double and LeBron James to score 30 points on just 14 shot attempts. The Lakers shot 60.5%, a season high for Rockets’ opponents, and recorded 15 3-pointers plus 62 points in the paint.
While their defense remains eighth in the NBA in efficiency, the Rockets used a new wrinkle to help center Alperen Sengun and guard Reed Sheppard defend better in the pick-and-roll. The initial results were unsightly.
“We changed our coverage on defense, and it was the first game we did it,” Sengun said. “I think we did a pretty good job.
“We’re going to get better on it, Reed and me. When they attack us on defense, we’ve got to do a better job. We have a lot of good (defenders) on this team. I would say we’re not the best, but we can help in a lot of ways. We have 14 games left. We know what to do.”
