The Atlanta Hawks have not had the best start to the 2021-22 season. Their 3-3 record does not do justice to the depth and quality of the team. However, the team did struggle in the preseason with injury so there is a definite lack of chemistry so there is no need to worry as of yet.
This means that the team is going to need some luck around the rest of the league in order to stay as close as possible to what many will suspect will be a high playoff seed. Prior to the season starting some pundits had them finishing as high as third in the league.
While that seems a little way off given the way that they are playing on the road at the moment. However, they are still a solid team at home, as long as they defend State Farm Arena, losing only a handful of games there then they are in a good position to build towards a successful season.
The Atlanta Hawks are part of an upside-down Eastern Conference.
The New York Knicks are at the top of the East right now. This is not a huge surprise considering that they finished a spot higher than the Hawks last season. The second spot is being held by the Chicago Bulls, and the third seed is the Washington Wizards which is a huge surprise.
Fortunately, there are a number of teams that are doing what they are supposed to. The Orlando Magic are still rebuilding and are at the bottom of the standings, just below the Detroit Pistons. However, that is about where the normality ends.
The Atlanta Hawks are helped by the Indiana Pacers struggling.
If anyone had told you that after six games of the season that the Indiana Pacers would have the worst record in the Eastern Conference, you would have told them that they were crazy. Still, that is where the Pacers find themselves, they have a worse record than the Magic.
They have missed Malcolm Brogdon and T.J. Warren for some games but they still have plenty of talent on the roster so would prefer to be further up the standings. The problem for the Pacers is that they lost their first two games by a single point each time, including the overtime loss to the Wizards in the second game.
The only win they have had was another overtime game against the Miami Heat. The other four games that they have lost were by a total of 38 points, which is an average of 9.5 points per game. They have fallen away as the losses have piled up.
The helps the Hawks as the Pacers have some tremendous talent and when they get on a roll are one of the hardest teams to stop. With them struggling, they have an even steeper hill to climb to get back to the middle of the pack.
The Atlanta Hawks are benefitting from the Boston Celtics inconsistency
The Boston Celtics are also sitting below the Hawks in the standings, having only won two games of the six that they have played. They have been working with Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum as the future of their team and this season it is not bearing fruit.
They have no major injury concerns which is a little concerning for the team. With the exception of the blowout loss to the Toronto Raptors, the Celtics have been in every game that they have lost right until the end. They have already played three overtime games out of six for the season, including one that went into double-overtime.
The Celtics have lost to the Wizards twice, the Raptors, and the New York Knicks. The only Eastern Conference team that they have beaten is the Charlotte Hornets. Their other win came against the Houston Rockets, a team that you would expect the Celtics to beat.
If the Celtics keep on losing then this is an opponent who was thought to be just below the Hawks who will struggle to get towards the top of the standings. What is also interesting is that the Celtics have not won in two attempts on their home floor. They also have a very tough run of games coming up.
The Atlanta Hawks have the same record as the Brooklyn Nets
The Brooklyn Nets had a tremendous offseason, they added Patty Mills who has been pretty good off the bench. The problem is that they are without one of their big three with Kyrie Irving missing the first part of the season thanks to his stance on being vacationed against COVID-19.
This should have meant that the Nets were able to rely more on James Harden to run the offense. This is a role that he is accustomed to having been the main man with the Houston Rockets for so many years prior to coming across to the Nets.
The Nets have been very hot and cold, they have not been able to get any momentum going as they have not won more than one game in succession. Their season opener against the Milwaukee Bucks was an embarrassing loss.
The other part of this story is that the Nets have split their first four home games 2-2. They have two more in the six-game stand with the last one being against the Hawks. Given the other game is against the Pistons, meaning that if they continue by the numbers, the Hawks should take this game.