Well, that didn't last very long. The Atlanta Hawks schedule got tougher on Sunday and the Hawks quickly dropped a pair of games to fall into a first place tie with the Orlando Magic for first place in the Southeast. Atlanta struggled a bit with defense against the Phoenix Suns and ultimately dropped a four-point decision to Phoenix on Sunday before heading to the Magic Kingdom's awesome new basketball arena for that all-too-typical game against the Orlando Magic on the second half of a back-to-back.
New place, same result. Give credit to the Hawks though. They didn't look much like the team that was swept out of the playoffs by an average of 25.3 points per game, or even a team that had dropped 10 of their last 11 to Orlando going into the Monday night matchup.
The Hawks led by as many as 13 before Dwight Howard and Vince Carter took control and sent the Hawks home packing with yet another loss.
Luckily for Atlanta, the schedule does get a bit easier as the Hawks spend the rest of the week at home. Atlanta faces off against the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday, the Utah Jazz on Friday and the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday. Expect at least two wins out of those three games.