5-0. Raise your hand if you saw this coming? Hawks sideline reporter James Verrett is the closest I've heard to espousing the kind of optimism going into this season (his prediction - 13-3) that has matched the team's start. But now that the train is rolling, it's time for people to start getting on board don't you think?

In the BasketBlog Weekly Podcast today with Lang Whitaker, LW and I talked about the lack of respect the team still seems to command despite the hot start. Lang made a good point - while it seems we are still under the radar right now, the easiest way to reverse that is to keep winning. The more we win, the sooner the lack of coverage will be rectified (even still, it made me mad to look at ESPN today and see a big story about the Lakers moving to 5-0 with no mention of our Hawks).

Last night's win in Oklahoma City was strangely disappointing and yet ultimately satisfying to me. I felt like we played flat for awhile, which I am sensitive to from the past. However the defensive effort was there the entire game, and in the end that was what made the difference (well, that and Flip Murray).

I cannot stress enough how important this team's defense has been in getting off to its best start since 1997-98. Last night's offensive effort was disjointed (not surprising, given the absence of Josh Smith), and it seemed like the Hawks were settling for a lot of isolation plays instead of working the ball around to get open shots. Yet the team was consistently getting enough easy baskets thanks to its defense that the game never got away from them, and when they finally started hitting a few shots in the 4th quarter they were able to pull out the road win.

These are the kinds of games that separate the men from the boys in the NBA. Lose them frequently enough, and you find yourself either out of the playoffs altogether or fighting for every game down the stretch to secure a spot. Win enough, and you start thinking about seeding and possibly hosting a playoff series.

Props go to Murray for once again providing exactly the kind of spark off the bench the team has been so badly missing the past few years, both offensively and defensively. And kudos as well to Solomon Jones, who stepped up in place of Josh Smith (injury) and Zaza Pachulia (foul trouble) to tie his career-high with 10 rebounds (6 offensive) to go with 5 points.

This week, with 5 games in 7 days, wouldn't have been easy even with J-Smoove. But the way this team is playing D right now, I don't think it's wise to count us out of any of them.

What else have you seen surprise you so far?

Update: Courtesy of the Hawks crack PR staff, at least a few people are taking notice of the Hawks play so far. Here are the team's power rankings through the season's first fortnight:

-- 3^rd on SI.com: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/marty_burns/11/10/power.rankings/index.html

-- 5^th on ESPN.com: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/powerranking?season=2009&week=2 

-- 5^th on Yahoo Sports: http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/post/BDL-NBA-Power-Rankings-From-sea-to-shining-sea?urn=nba,120828