ATLANTA -- Going inside the Hawks' 131-99 win over the Nets on Saturday in Philips Arena. The win was Atlanta's 57th of the season, tying a franchise record set in the 1986-87 season and tied in 1993-94.
1. Al Horford could do no wrong early on.
In the first 3:23 of the game, the Hawks scored 10 points. Horford had eight.
He played just a bit more than seven minutes in the first quarter and missed only one shot. He played eight more minutes in the second quarter and added eight more points to finish the half with 16. He also added two rebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. And he did a lot of that in nearly-heroic fashion.
Once Horford realized he was hot, he must have thought he needed to add style points each time he touched the ball. He flew through the lane for an alley-oop that brought the crowd to its feet. One of his assists came from a loose ball that Horford felt he could slap to a teammate; no need to grab it an make a traditional pass.
Horford finished the game with a team-high (tied with DeMarre Carroll) 20 points on 10-for-13 shooting. He only played 21 minutes.
2. The Hawks offered a mixed bag of news on the injury front.
Mike Scott, who had missed the last 11 games with a sprained left toe, was active for the first time since March 11. He played just more than nine and a half minutes and scored two points with two assists, two rebounds and one steal.
Atlanta head coach Mike Budenholzer said he had not determined prior to the game whether or not Scott would play -- or wouldn't -- but eluded to the fact that an injury to Millsap (more on that later) might have played into extra minutes for Scott.
"We were hopeful that we would get him into the game, but it wasn't a 'Yes you're going to play' or 'No you weren't' we were just going to kind of feel it out," said Budenholzer after the game. "It was great to see him out there and make his first shot. He's so important to us, he fits us well."
Dennis Schroder was still in street clothes, but FOX Sports South reporter Olivia Harlan offered some promising news.
Harlan spoke with Schroder prior to the game. He'll try to return to action against at home against Phoenix on Tuesday. He suffered a sprained left toe on March 30 versus the Bucks.
Dennis Schröder told me he expects to play Tuesday @SportSouth
— Olivia Harlan (@Olivia_Harlan) April 4, 2015
Scott's news was good, Schroder's was promising -- unfortunately for the Hawks, there was some bad news.
As the second quarter was coming to an end, Paul Millsap collided with Brooklyn forward Earl Clark as both were lunging for a pass. No foul was called and the Nets scored an uncontested bucket on the other end as Millsap lay on the floor in pain.
Millsap got up with some help and said he was OK, although he was favoring his right shoulder. He left the bench area early and was assisted back to the locker room for halftime.
As the team returned to the floor for the second half, Millsap did not leave the locker room. A member of the Hawks' PR staff announced that Millsap had a right shoulder injury but would not go into any detail about the injury or in regard to how Millsap was doing at the time.
The Hawks were up by 18 points at halftime and quickly built a 37-point lead in the third quarter. There was absolutely no need to rush Millsap back into the game. Best-case scenario is that Millsap will be fine and him not returning to action was only precautionary.
On the other hand, Millsap is the Hawks' leading scorer and rebounder. If his injury requires extensive time away from the floor -- Atlanta has six games remaining in the regular season -- that would be a big blow to the team as the playoffs approach.
Budenholzer offered no new information during his postgame press conference.
"We'll know more tomorrow and Monday," said Budenholzer. "We've built up depth, we've built up a way of playing and we'll just hope for the best.
3. The Hawks helped themselves out off the court with Saturday's win.
The Hawks have already secured a Southeast title and the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. But from the looks of Saturday's starting lineup, the team is still playing for something.
Don't look at the Hawks, however. Focus on the Nets.
Atlanta has the option of switching draft picks with Brooklyn at this year's draft. If the Nets were to fall out of the playoffs, the Hawks could land a lottery pick. That's why with seven games left on the schedule, Budenholzer played to win against the Nets.
With the loss, the Nets fell to 35-41 and are in a dogfight for two playoff spots to be split between five teams. Brooklyn, Miami, Boston, Indiana and Charlotte are all within two games of one another with seven to play.
The Nets and Heat both lost on Saturday, meaning they are still locked in as the 7- and 8-seeds, respectively. Boston won and is tied with Miami at 34-43. Charlotte won to move one game back of the 8-seed at 34-43. Indiana was idle.
The race for the final two spots in the Eastern Conference -- or more important to the Hawks, the stretch to see if Brooklyn makes the playoffs -- will be incredibly interesting for Hawks fans.
Atlanta does have one more game with Brooklyn this season; a road contest on April 8.
7: The Hawks have seven games left on the regular season schedule. In those seven game they must win one to set a new franchise record with 58 wins.
131, 32: Atlanta set two season highs on Saturday. In scoring 131 points they eclipsed the 130 points scored against Sacramento on March 9. The Hawks set a new high with a 32-point margin of victory. The previous best was 31 points over Washington on Jan. 11.
"The assists. Usually what goes hand-in-hand with assists is making shots. I thought our guys shot the ball well. You're not always going to shoot it that way. You can't count on that." -- Mike Budenholzer on the stat that stood out to him most on a great offensive night. The Hawks had 40 assists and shot 59.8 percent from the floor.
