Hawks Looking to Match Longest Winning Streak in Franchise History

The Atlanta Hawks will face the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday with a chance to match the all-time franchise record of a 14-game winning streak, per ESPN Stats & Info.

Winners of 13 straight, the 34-8 Hawks have surprisingly emerged as the hottest team in the NBA, using the recent stretch of phenomenal basketball to build a five-game lead over the Washington Wizards for the top seed in the Eastern Conference.

And Atlanta hasn't just been beating up on bad teams, as eight of those 13 games were played against squads that are currently positioned to make the playoffs, with another two victories coming against a Detroit Pistons team that appears vastly improved since releasing current Houston Rockets forward Josh Smith.

The Hawks are heavy favorites to match the franchise record Wednesday night, as the 15-28 Pacers enter the contest in the midst of a five-game losing streak.

The game may carry a bit of extra meaning for both teams, given that the eighth-seeded Hawks took the first-seeded Pacers to seven games in the first round of last season's Eastern Conference playoffs.

The series was apparently a sign of things to come for a veteran-laden Hawks team, though arguably the biggest difference between this year and last has been the presence of center Al Horford, who missed the majority of the 2013-14 regular season and all of the playoffs due to a torn pectoral muscle.

With Horford leading the way, Atlanta can match a franchise record set back in 1993-94, when the team went 57-25 before losing to none other than the Pacers in the second round of the playoffs.

The '93-94 Hawks matched the 1986-87 squad's franchise record of 57 regular-season wins, but the campaign is arguably best remembered for the team's decision to trade franchise icon Dominique Wilkins along with a first-round pick to the Los Angeles Clippers for Danny Manning.