Nice little back-pedal 101, considering the Hawks have beaten San Antonio, Denver (twice), Dallas, Toronto, Detroit, LA, and Minnesota, these guys are the Golden State Warriors of the Eastern Conference. And when the Kings lose to their perrinial whipping boys in their own crib last Friday, I guess maybe JoMal might want to back pedal as well, but I certainly don't expect it.
LA played as flatfooted as they have played all season, despite Payton's triple double. They expected a walk through on this one and got punk-slapped, just like all the above mentioned teams did by a team that plays with nothing to lose. Kobe's absence had nothing to do with it, they should have been able to beat Atlanta with their bench, deplorable!