The Larry O'Brien Trophy isn't awarded in January, but if it were, the Atlanta Hawks would be planning their victory parade right now. The Hawks officially overtook the Golden State Warriors for the NBA's best record on Friday.
And they didn't arrive at the summit easily, either, in what turned out to be a 105-99 win over a quality Western Conference foe. Atlanta played host to the Portland Trail Blazers, with LaMarcus Aldridge celebrating his third straight All-Star selection and Damian Lillard still smarting over his exclusion—if not the team's six losses in eight games since mid-January.
The Blazers stars' results mirrored their respective All-Star statuses. Aldridge exploded for 37 points on 15-of-24 shooting (2-of-3 from three), despite an injured digit that nearly put him under the knife. Lillard, on the other hand, had more missed shots (14) than points scored (13) and plenty of turnovers (six) to accompany his 11 assists.
Even so, there were times when Portland looked like it might put out Atlanta's lengthy winning streak. The two teams traded leads throughout their tiff ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Josh Martin
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January 30th, 2015 by Josh Martin Leave a reply »
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