To open the season, Atlanta surprised the basketball world by sprinting out of the gates to an 8-2 start. The Hawks had seemingly avoided the dreaded drop-off most assumed they would encounter after key wing contributor DeMarre Carroll defected to Toronto.
Sans Carroll, and with new faces in the mix, Atlanta was still rolling; so much so that at one point the 2015 regular-season Eastern Conference Champions had won seven consecutive contests.
Confidently entering their November 13th showdown with the hard-working, yet unspectacular Boston Celtics, Atlanta sat firmly atop the Southeast Division they so effortlessly conquered just a season prior.