TORONTO - You can’t sleep on the same team twice.

A year after finishing 60-22, the Atlanta Hawks weren’t going to sneak up on anybody this season and nobody knows this better than Paul Millsap.

“Making it to the Eastern Conference Finals, you’ve got a target on your back now,” Millsap told TSN.ca. “Having the best record in the East, you’ve got a target on your back. So teams are out to get us and we knew this going into the season. We’ve just got to match that, meet those expectations and accept it.”

Though the team has already lost two more games than it did all of last season, Mike Budenholzer’s team is firmly ensconced in the thick of the playoff race in the East. At 31-24, the Hawks sit atop the Southeast Division and fourth in the East with Millsap again a big reason why.

The 31-year-old power forward from Monroe, Louisiana is in his 10th NBA campaign and is making his third straight All-Star appearance. Over 54 games, the Louisiana Tech product is near career-best numbers, averaging 17.7 points, 8.6 boards, 1.4 blocks and 1.9 steals in 32.4 minutes a night.

While the Hawks might not be the surprise package they were a year ago, Millsap feels it would be a mistake to underestimate them.

“I think we’re a really good basketball team, like we were last year,” Millsap said. “I think people get caught up in win-losses a little too much. I think it’s about the bigger picture with us. If you watch the games, you know we’ve lost games by two or three or four points. It could’ve easily turned the other way and we’d be on our way to win 60 games again. We don’t get caught up in all that. We’re just trying to be better everyday and try to get to the same point and even further than we were last year.”

Not hitting the heights that they did a year ago isn’t necessarily an indictment of the Hawks’ play, but more an indicator of the growing competitiveness of the Eastern Conference. Only 7.5 games separate the Boston Celtics, currently sitting with the third seed in the conference, with the Orlando Magic in 11th. Millsap is expecting a fight right down to the wire and hopes his Hawks seize the moment.

I think it’s going to be interesting to see what happens in the second half,” Millsap said, “if one team focuses and separates themselves from the other teams. There’s a lot of good teams in the East, don’t get me wrong, but it’s going to be that team that separates itself from the rest.”

For now, though, Millsap is appreciating his time off and his trip to Toronto in a way that he didn’t with his previous All-Star experiences. Becoming a fixture at All-Star Weekend has its advantages, he says, offering a chance to take things a bit more slowly.

“This is actually the first year where I’ve really just enjoyed it,” Millsap said. “The first two years, it was hectic. I know what the first-year guys, the second-year guys are going through. So this is really my first year really enjoying it in a great city and I’m going to continue trying to enjoy the weekend.”

The break represents a peaceful respite from what shapes up to be an intense final stretch for the Hawks, beginning on February 19 when they host their division rival, Miami Heat.