While the Atlanta Hawks NBA Cup run came to an end on Saturday with a 110-102 loss to the Bucks in the semifinals, one thing they cannot be denied of is how well they have been playing of late, having won seven of their last nine games, with a six-game win streak in the midst of it, and all after a 2-4 start to the season and dealing with several injuries to key players.
“We were so banged up early and I thought we stuck together but there was also kind of the beginnings of an identity,” Hawks head coach, Quin Snyder said on Monday as he joined Steak Shapiro and Drew Butler on the Steakhouse, sharing his thoughts on the performance of his team over the past few weeks and expressing why he believes the team’s identity is important to the “long term success of the Hawks,”.
As their conversation continued, Shapiro noted several wins by the Hawks, including back to back victories over the Eastern Conference leading Cavaliers, two wins over the Knicks and a win over the Celtics. “What does stock piling wins against the absolute best teams in the NBA do for your team, your culture and the guys that have been a part of it” Shapiro asked Snyder, who explained “how we play” is important for the Hawks’ culture.
“That is the ultimate representation of who you are and that’s the culture in my mind so the games that you are describing, I think the common denominator is we were really competitive,” Snyder said, adding that the Hawks also rely on endurance to help with “success and failure” in their games.