The Atlanta Hawks (28-30) haven’t had the season many people, including us, thought they would heading into the campaign. After their run to the Eastern Conference Finals last season, they seemed poised to take that next step with presumed better health. Well, that health took a while to hold up and has played a part in them being two games below .500 with a 28-30 record.
Things aren’t as off-track as they seem now, though, and not as bleak as they seemed a little over a month ago when the Hawks were mired in a five-game losing streak and hadn’t won at home since November.
That’s right, they went 0-7 at State Farm Arena in December.
Luckily, the Hawks sandwiched that disaster of a month with a 6-2 home record in November and a 6-3 mark in January. They are currently 3-1 at home in February.
One of their goals coming in the season was to earn homecourt advantage in the playoffs and make State Farm Arena a tough place to play for opponents. A 17-13 home record to this point isn’t quite there. But it is still a testament to how perception can change when your perspective does.
It seemed quite possible for some time, and even likely at one point, that they could finish with a losing record in their gym.
Thankfully, they are course-correcting.
Keep an eye on these trends from the Atlanta Hawks when they return to action
As 92.9 The Game’s Mike Conti pointed out on Twitter, the Hawks are taking a similar standing into the All-Star break as they did last season. They are doing better than last season in many ways.
They were 16-20 last season, four games below .500, and sitting 11th in the East. What’s more, they were two days into Nate McMillan’s tenure as ‘interim’ head coach following the dismissal of Lloyd Pierce. While the Hawks didn’t have to fire their coach this time around, one could argue the trade of Cam Reddish was in a similar vein of chemistry.
These are just a few of the trends from the first “half” of the season. But there are others that Hawks fans should keep an eye on when the team returns to action.