Only 14 games remain on the Hawks’ regular-season schedule. With the clock running low on time to make their case for the postseason, the Hawks will have to make every game count.
Nothing in the NBA is ever guaranteed, as the Hawks showed in their loss to the Nets on Sunday night. The Nets had won 22 games heading into Sunday night. But on their second night of back-to-back games, the Nets kept the Hawks against the ropes on their way to a 122-114 victory.
The Hawks, at 32-36, have the 17th-best record in the NBA and currently sit in seventh place in the Eastern Conference standings. After losing their past two games, the Hawks are only a half-game ahead of the Magic, who snapped the Cavaliers’ 16-game win streak Sunday.
Heading into Tuesday’s game against the Hornets, the Hawks could do themselves a favor by completing a season sweep. The Hawks defeated the Hornets in their previous three meetings.
According to Tankathon, the Hawks have the fourth weakest strength of schedule. The site looks at a team’s remaining games and calculates the combined win percentage for all those opponents.
Of the 13 games following Tuesday’s matchup against the Hornets, the Hawks have only four matchups against teams within the top 11 of the league. They face the Warriors on Saturday, the Rockets on March 25, the Bucks on March 30 and the Knicks on April 5. They’ll play the remaining nine games against teams locked into the Play-In Tournament or those likely to be eliminated in the next couple of weeks.
Hornets, 14.5 games behind
Warriors, N/A
76ers, 8.5 games behind
Rockets, N/A
Heat, 3.0 games ahead
Bucks, 4.0 games ahead
Trail Blazers, N/A
Mavericks, N/A
Knicks, 11.5 games ahead
Jazz, N/A
Magic, 0.5 games behind
Nets, 9.0 games behind
76ers, 8.5 games behind
Magic, 0.5 games behind
Per Basketball Reference.com, the Hawks currently have a 42.6% chance of finishing the regular season as the seventh seed and securing a chance to host the eighth seed in the first play-in game. A win would send them to the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs, where they have a 37.2% chance of facing the Celtics.
If they lose their first play-in game, they still would have another chance to get into the playoffs. A win in that second game would buy them a ticket to play the NBA-leading Cavaliers.
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