No Horford, No Problem for Hawks

Losing an All-Star center usually spells doom for a team that considers itself a championship contender but the Atlanta Hawks have gone 5-1 since losing center Al Horford to a torn pectoral muscle injury over a week ago. While this is a promising start there are still a lot of games left to play this season. Still, the Hawks were able to take down the Cleveland Cavaliers by a 27-point margin on Saturday beating them 121-94. The Hawks are primarily a shooting team but without their primary low-post scorer they become even more one-dimensional. What has helped the Hawks this season though is the fact that they are playing outstanding defense. The Hawks have always been a good scoring team but this year they have stepped up their defense and are outscoring their opponents by seven points-per-game. They are actually outscoring opponents by a 9.5-point margin during the six games that Horford has been out. Atlanta’s offense seems to flow better when they don’t have to worry about feeding...