Pelicans end Hawks’ winning streak at 19 games

The Atlanta Hawks began what looked like the most difficult week of their season by attempting to tie the fourth-longest winning streak in NBA history in New Orleans against the Pelicans. The Hawks hadn’t lost since the day after Christmas, stockpiling 19 wins in a row to claim the NBA’s best record.

If all streaks are eventually meant to be broken, the Pelicans decided this was the time to do it. Behind a huge game from star forward Anthony Davis, New Orleans coasted to a 115-100 victory over Atlanta.

Davis was everywhere, finishing with with 29 points and 13 rebounds. The line included a few highlight reel dunks like this one:

The story of the game was New Orleans’ ability to make the Hawks miss jump shots. Atlanta is one of the best shooting teams in the league, but it only shot 44.9 percent from the floor and 7-of-22 from three in the loss. The Hawks started the game just 2-of-14 from behind the three-point arc.

The Hawks’ Twitter account, which had been having a blast during the winning streak, immediately changed its name to “fun while it lasted”:

New Orleans was able to find holes in a Hawks defense that began the night ranked in the top five of the league in efficiency. Eric Gordon played a phenomenal game, aggressively attacking Kent Bazemore throughout the night to finish with 20 points and seven assists on 7-of-11 shooting. Tyreke Evans and Ryan Anderson added 15 points each in the win, while Jimmer Fredette and Dante Cunningham chipped in 10 apiece. Jeff Teague led the Hawks with 21 points and seven assists.

Atlanta’s streak is now over, but the Hawks will still have plenty of chances to test themselves coming up. They host a quality Washington Wizards team on Wednesday, and their Friday matchup with the Warriors will be one of the most anticipated regular season games of the year. Atlanta and Golden State currently lead the standings in their respective conferences.