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Hawks 1st team to clinch playoff spot

Brett Davis / USA TODAY Sports

Thanks to a combination of their own fantastic play and the morass of apathy and incompetence in the bottom half of the Eastern Conference, the Atlanta Hawks - just 60 games into the season - have become the first team to officially lock up a 2015 postseason berth. 

A huge fourth-quarter surge against the Houston Rockets on Tuesday night carried the Hawks to their 48th win, propelling them into the playoffs for the eighth consecutive year (a run that immediately followed an eight-year playoff drought). 

A quick glance at the standings might cause some confusion, as the Brooklyn Nets and Charlotte Hornets, who sit tied for the East's eighth/ninth seed, each have 33 losses, ostensibly giving both the chance to get to 49 wins. 

But after those two teams square off on Wednesday night, one of them will inevitably come away with a 34th loss. And since the Hawks own the head-to-head tiebreaker over both, they can finish no lower than eighth. 

At 48-12, the Hawks are off to the best 60-game start in franchise history, and, in just the first week of March, they're one of the fastest teams ever to clinch.

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