The Atlanta Hawks lost their second game of the season to the Philadelphia 76ers after Danilo Gallinari‘s last-second 3-ball bounced off the front of the rim. This means that the Hawks have lost two of the three games of the season series.
While it is expected that the 76ers were going to be one of the top seeds in the ultra-competitive Eastern Conference. However, then the issues started. Ben Simmons has not played a minute for the franchise this season given the messy breakup that they appear to be going through.
This was caused by the way the Hawks bundled the 76ers out of the playoffs in the seventh game of the Eastern Conference semi-finals and the fallout from comments made afterward. The 76ers have also had their star player, Joel Embiid, out due to Covid-19.
The Atlanta Hawks need to click it into gear as soon as they can.
While the Hawks are suffering a crisis at the wing position due to injury, they have been a competitive unit since they put the disastrous road trip behind them. They have been a lot better on the road, with their only two losses in the past nine games coming at home. There have been extenuating circumstances behind this, mainly due to injury.
If the Hawks can get their players back on the court as soon as possible then they have the chance to get to the top of the Eastern Conference standings. If they can do this then the season series will have little impact on where they finish up in the standings.
If the Hawks continue to go on runs of wins and losses and do not get the momentum required for a successful season then they may be fighting for their seeding position. If the Hawks had been able to win this one then the season’s series was still alive and they could have taken it on the 76ers floor. Now they just have to make sure they have a better record than the team from Philadelphia.