“You are starting to send a message that there is not a team in the league that we cannot matchup with,” was the statement from Steak Shapiro on Thursday morning as he and Rusty Mansell were joined by Mike Conti on The Steakhouse to discuss the Atlanta Hawks following their 108-100 win over the New York Knicks on Wednesday to advance to the NBA Cup semifinals.
And while the Hawks are just two wins away from potentially winning the in season tournament, the trio shared their thoughts on the overall performance of the Hawks of late, having won seven of their last eight games, which includes a six game win streak and back to back wins over the Eastern Conference leading Cleveland Cavaliers. “You’ve also recently beaten Milwaukee and you’ve beaten the Knicks twice now,” Conti said as he agreed with Shapiro’s comments.
As their conversation continued and the three host noted the overall improved defensive play by the Hawks as a team as well as individual contributions from the likes of Dyson Daniels, who the Hawks acquired in a trade with the Pelicans and all agreed is an early candidate for defensive player of the year, as well as Jalen Johnson, who Shapiro believes “could be very well most improved player in the NBA,” and De’Andre Hunter, who they believe is putting together a 6th Man of the Year resume, they all agreed the Hawks may have a better season than anticipated by some.
“I’d argue, any franchise in basketball would look at the Hawks and say, ‘we need some of those guys’,” Shapiro added as he shared his thoughts on why he believes the Hawks future appears to be set up for success in the near future.
