THRILLIPS ARENA — The Portland slugfest took a lot out of our boys. Dueling intensities of streak sustainers and streak breakers ended up in a big win for the home side, while leaving some comrades bruised and battered.

The 76ers looked prime to swoop in for the scraps.

The Hawks have had considerable success on the second night of back to backs, going 10-3 this year in those scenarios. Though they were caught in the crossfire against a pesky bottom feeder looking to sustain a little streaking success of their own.

After jumping to a first half lead of 21 points, the only thing that seemed uncertain for the rest of the night was how the Twitter feed would handle the constant influx of Ws. But then legs and depth issues looked to be creeping up on us. Young teams, fair or not, get the inexperience moniker, but they are also youthful. Give them credit, these wide-eyed Philly kids did not quit.

Along with Shelvin, DeMarre and Thabo were sidelined again for the game, with word coming that now Sefalosha will be missing action until the late-March playoff push. Like Bazemore the night before, Atlanta got big contributions from another unlikely source.

The nomadic D-League journeyman, Johnny “Cash” Jenkins, made the most of his extended minutes. Essential in providing the cushion, the pure shooter collected 9 big points at an 80% clip, his stroke brimming with the confidence of a seasoned veteran. It ended up being that those big buckets were just enough to stave a furious rally.

Philadelphia is a collection of lottery picks with hardly a recognizable name all the way down the box score. To their credit, being unrecognizable means not being taken seriously. A change of tactics doesn’t hurt either.

Our defense clogged the interior all night, forcing Brett Brown to let his team open fire any chance they got. The result, a season high 14 treys for Philly and in the blink of an eye, a two point lead for them. But 18 straight wins is no fluke and we are more than capable of closing out; it just so happens we have a few clutch players.

Schroder made up for a lackluster Teague performance with 15 points off the bench and Mr. Automatic Al shoots 18-footers as easily as throwing rocks into an ocean. They combined to lead a 7-0 run to take a two point deficit into an insurmountable advantage. The end result being an elated sigh of relief, and a well-deserved perfect month of January; 17-0 being the best month of basketball by any team in NBA history. And the fans have showed up in droves. Yesterday was Atlanta’s 10th sellout, already eclipsing the number they had over the last TWO years combined.

“Hey 19″…HAWKS FLY TOGETHER!