After a slow start to the season the Atlanta Hawks are now heavily involved in the battle for the play-in seedings, possibly looking to get to the sixth seed. They are starting to win enough games to be taken seriously in the Eastern Conference right now.
Now that they are past the Charlotte Hornets, they should be able to stay ahead of them in the standings. While they would have wanted the Hornets to keep winning, they have no chance of finishing high enough for the pick to convey that the Hawks were able to trade for when they moved Cam Reddish to the New York Knicks.
While the Hawks do not know wehat is happening with their starting forward John Collins, they are relying heavily on their reserve Danilo Gallinari who has stepped up admirably in Collins’ absence. However, the Hawks need this production to continue if they have any hope of knocking off the Brooklyn Nets and getting above them in the hunt for the best possible seeding.
Why the Atlanta Hawks need to get above the Brooklyn Nets.
If the Hawks are not able to get up to the eighth seed then they will have to beat the tenth seed in a play in game and then take on the loser of the matchup between the seveth and eighth seed. As we all know, if you have a bad game in this phase of the season then it is all over. It is so much better to have two bites of the apple than one.
However, given the Nets just dropped 150 points against the Orlando Magic, they look dangerous offensively. Two things need to be taken into account here though. First, it was against one of the worst teams in the league. Secondly, the games top scorer, Kyrie Irving, is not eligible to play in all the games which remain in the regular season.
He is not allowed to play in the Nets nine remaining home games under the current laws which could seriously dent the Nets chances of winning a large number of these games. Three of the remaining four away games are against the Miami Heat, Memphis Grizzlies and against the Atlanta Hawks. It is realistic to think that the Nets are a good chance of losing all three games.
In fact, in the reaming 13 games for the Nets, they could realistically lose six and only win seven. This would give them a 43-39 record for the season. Given that the Nets are only 1.5 games ahead of the Hawks in the standings and the Hawks have one of the easiest schedules for the remainder of the season, there is a very good chance that the Hawks pass the Nets for eighth.