Atlanta Hawks: Which potential matchup would be better in round one.

With the regular season days away from coming to the close, the Atlanta Hawks are playoff bound. Given the moves made by their front office this season, it would have been seen as a failure had they not made the postseason.

The season cost the Hawks a coach with Lloyd Pierce being sacked just prior to the All-Star break. His replacement, Nate McMillan has taken the Hawks to a whole new level. Just prior to him starting the Hawks were in 11th. Right now they are leading a three-way tie for the fourth seed,

The other two teams who are tied for the final home seed in the Eastern Conference are the Miami Heat and the New York Knicks. These two are a little surprising to be where they are in the seeding. The Knicks have come from nowhere to be higher than expected. The Heat were the Eastern Conference champions last season and are lower than expected.

The Atlanta Hawks took the long road but they got there in the end

As mentioned earlier, the Hawks changed coaches just prior to the All-Star break. However, prior to him being sacked the Hawks lost to the New York Knicks in a game they could have won. This led the Hawks to lose the season series to the Knicks.

The Hawks managed to eke out a win in the last game of the series against the Heat, despite not having the services of Trae Young. It was this game that gave them the ability to win the Southeast Conference by holding the tiebreaker. This is why they are above the Knicks in the three-way tie.

So, let’s look at who the Hawks would rather face and why in the first round of the playoffs.