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The Hawks, currently the owners of the league's longest winning streak, narrowly escaped a determined Bobcats team on Wednesday night, pulling out a 94-91 home victory.
According to their head coach Larry Drew, the problem stemmed from their lack of urgency in the first half (courtesy of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution):
"I told our team at halftime, I thought that team was playing harder than we were," Drew said. "I thought that they were getting after us more than we were getting after them ... They were actually bringing the game to us. That is totally unacceptable in our building. We have to be more focused and we have to do things with much, much more urgency than we did in the first half."
It's no surprise Atlanta took Charlotte, coming off one of the worst seasons in NBA history and victims of a 45-point blowout on Monday, lightly.
However, the Bobcats, under first-year coach Mike Dunlop, have quietly become one of the league's feistiest teams. With a 7-7 record so far this season, they've matched last season's win total in one month.
Charlotte may not have a great deal of talent, but they're no longer a team you can expect to beat just by showing up. The Hawks almost found that out the hard way on Wednesday.