--While he stopped short of a Dennis Green-like rant, Raptors coach Sam Mitchell believes that the Hawks' hot start is indicative of them being exactly who and what he thought they were.
"Their starting lineup is all first-round picks," Mitchell said. "Have y'all ever thought about that? There is a reason they've got talent. It's a unique formula. You look around the league now and the teams that get better, guys have to develop. And if you look at the starting lineup, you just see talent. "The key to that is giving it a chance to mature, giving those guys a chance to learn how to play in the NBA and giving them a chance to learn how to play together. Once that happens they've got a chance to be pretty good. And (Hawks coach) Mike's (Woodson) done a great job with them. You've got a guy in Joe Johnson that's a superstar. And you've got some other guys that have a chance to make some All-Star teams throughout their careers."
--Anyone wondering if G Mike Bibby still had some of the explosive shooting ability he showed earlier in his career got their answer in the second quarter Friday night.
Bibby went off, scoring 12 of the Hawks' 31 points in the quarter during a mercurial six-minute stretch in which he drained four of five shots from beyond the 3-point line.
He finished the first half with 19 points, on 7-for-9 shooting from the floor and 5-for-7 from deep, and six assists.
"That was vintage Mike Bibby out there," Marvin Williams said. "If you love basketball, you love to see a dude lighting it up like that."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "I'm very impressed. Guys are mentally into it. Physically they're giving me the effort. And that's what it's going to take. If we're going to accomplish some of our goals this year, and try to get back to the playoffs, this is show we've got to play night in and night out." -- Hawks coach Mike Woodson on his team's 4-0 start.
