Confidence. It's a beautiful thing. I've been saying all along that I felt that if the young Hawks could just string enough wins together at a time, the effect would start to multiply and good things would start to happen.

After winning four in a row over some of the lesser lights of the NBA, the Hawks finally took down a team with as much at stake as they had, and did so in incredibly dramatic fashion.

A month ago, could you have seen the Hawks overcoming a 17-point second-half deficit against a playoff team? I wouldn't have bet on it. But the success of the past couple weeks has clearly given this team faith in themselves, leading to what was arguably the season's biggest win tonight at Philips Arena.

Everyone played a role tonight. The stars were who you'd figure, with Joe showing off the form that made him Player of the Month for March and Mike Bibby reminding everyone why he's known as one of the top crunch-time players in the League. But it wasn't just them, either. Marvin Williams hit big shots in the first half, and Josh Smith picked it up where he left off in the second. Josh Childress and Zaza Pachulia were each productive off the bench. Al Horford had another ho-hum double-double (his rookie-leading 22nd).

And back to Josh Smith for a moment. I won't pretend to agree with his shot selection all the time, and I can't say I was particularly pleased at the point of release for each of his three three-pointers tonight. But when each of them dropped through the nets, I was shouting applause (in my mind of course, I am precluded from doing that on press row) just like everyone else. Why? Because at this time of year, it doesn't matter how it goes down, just as long as it goes down.

People can dismiss the Hawks wins over the past few weeks as less impressive because of who they beat, or because the Hawks blew big leads, whatever, but the fact is those wins over New York and Milwaukee count every bit as much in the standings as earlier ones over Dallas and Phoenix.

It doesn't matter how it happens - a basket is a basket, and a win is a win, and the Hawks have been getting them at a more rapid pace of late than at any other time of the season.

It couldn't have happened at a better time.