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Underlying metrics paint a depressing picture for Atlanta

The Atlanta Hawks have lost four consecutive games and have almost uniformly looked bad in the process.

The statistical outlook over the last 10 games is less than encouraging with the team struggling on both ends of the floor and slipping from its lofty defensive numbers.

Over that span, the Hawks have the league’s 19th-best defense, falling from a borderline-elite level to somewhere a little below average. The team’s offense has stayed mostly static over the same timeframe (25th in the league over the last 10).

A slipping defensive presence, combined with a poor offense have combined to produce several rough performances for the team.

Hawks struggling offense an ongoing concern

Atlanta has the third-worst offense in the league since the All-Star break, and are ranked 25th since Jan. 1. How are the Hawks going to create enough offense in a playoff series to take down the kind of firepower they're going to face in either a 4-5 or 3-6 matchup?

Playoff Projections

• The Hawks are now four back in the loss column from the Raptors and just one up on the Pacers. It’s not inconceivable that they fall all the way down to seventh or eighth.
  
• They’re without Paul Millsap and Kent Bazemore, two of their best players, and have only five more home games, They have two late-season games vs. the Cavs, and whether Cleveland rests players could determine where the Hawks land.
• SportsLine thinks they finish fourth, but interestingly, they have a 49 percent chance of winning the first round.

Jamaaliver wrote:

Underlying metrics paint a depressing picture for Atlanta

The Atlanta Hawks have lost four consecutive games and have almost uniformly looked bad in the process.

The statistical outlook over the last 10 games is less than encouraging with the team struggling on both ends of the floor and slipping from its lofty defensive numbers.

Over that span, the Hawks have the league’s 19th-best defense, falling from a borderline-elite level to somewhere a little below average. The team’s offense has stayed mostly static over the same timeframe (25th in the league over the last 10).

A slipping defensive presence, combined with a poor offense have combined to produce several rough performances for the team.

PeachTree Hoops

Hawks struggling offense an ongoing concern

Atlanta has the third-worst offense in the league since the All-Star break, and are ranked 25th since Jan. 1. How are the Hawks going to create enough offense in a playoff series to take down the kind of firepower they're going to face in either a 4-5 or 3-6 matchup?

CBS Power Rankings

Playoff Projections

• The Hawks are now four back in the loss column from the Raptors and just one up on the Pacers. It’s not inconceivable that they fall all the way down to seventh or eighth.
  
• They’re without Paul Millsap and Kent Bazemore, two of their best players, and have only five more home games, They have two late-season games vs. the Cavs, and whether Cleveland rests players could determine where the Hawks land.
• SportsLine thinks they finish fourth, but interestingly, they have a 49 percent chance of winning the first round.

CBS Sports

D21 wrote:Is it possible that they realized they aren't able to catch the 2nd and 3rd spot, so they decided to try to get the 6th or even 7th instead of battling for 4th or 5th and get CLE in the second round ?

Jamaaliver wrote:

D21 wrote:Is it possible that they realized they aren't able to catch the 2nd and 3rd spot, so they decided to try to get the 6th or even 7th instead of battling for 4th or 5th and get CLE in the second round ?

The thought has crossed my mind. But it's a real gamble. I have to believe we'd rather face a wounded TOR team than a healthy WAS or CLE.

Hawks search for beautiful destination at end of rocky path

Bazemore wrote a message to his teammates on the whiteboard Monday morning before the team gathered for practice.

“All terrible roads lead to beautiful destinations."

The slumping team will again be without three starters — Paul Millsap, Kent Bazemore and Thabo Sefolosha — when they host the Suns on Tuesday, the second straight game they will be so severely short-handed.

Said Dennis Schroder, one of the team’s two healthy starters: “When everybody else comes back, we are going to be in good shape. … Now, we have to change something, too. We can’t wait until they come back. Maybe it’s too late then. We have to figure it out with our group now and then when they come back, we’ll be even stronger.”

Much of the focus on the injury-plagued team has been on Schroder, who said he has spoken to coach Mike Budenholzer about what he needs to do to make himself and the team better during these difficult circumstances.

The team spent much of practice on Monday watching video to fix mistakes.

afectar wrote:I can't blame people for blasting the Hawks right now. They deserve it, they suck!

Past 17 years I watched them and I haven't watch them once in a few weeks now. The team they have now is unacceptable. Awful to watch and just plain out bad. Everyone see's what they should be doing, but leave it to our team to be clueless.

Atlanta Hawks (39-38)

• Clinched/magic number: Magic number for a playoff spot is three.
• Strength of schedule: .531 (tough)
• Remaining games: Five: BOS, @CLE, CLE, CHA, @IND
• Trails/leads and tiebreakers: Trail Bucks by one game, have tiebreaker. Lead Bulls by one game, tiebreaker yet to be decided.
• SportsLine projection: 29.3 percent chance of winning the first round

Jamaaliver wrote:

Atlanta Hawks (39-38)

• Clinched/magic number: Magic number for a playoff spot is three.
• Strength of schedule: .531 (tough)
• Remaining games: Five: BOS, @CLE, CLE, CHA, @IND
• Trails/leads and tiebreakers: Trail Bucks by one game, have tiebreaker. Lead Bulls by one game, tiebreaker yet to be decided.
• SportsLine projection: 29.3 percent chance of winning the first round

CBS Sports

We don't look like a good team right now.

Millsap is not fully healthy.

Dennis and Dwight are maddeningly inconsistent.

We seem destined to face off against a resurgent Raptors team this Post Season.

Eastern Conference Team to Watch: Atlanta Hawks

Over the past nine seasons, the Atlanta Hawks have gone through three head coaches: Mike Woodson, Larry Drew and Mike Budenholzer. Yet the franchise has clinched a playoff spot every year in that span.

Coming into the 2016-17 season, many wondered if the Hawks would finally challenge the Cavaliers atop the East with center Dwight Howard joining the team. Through the first half of the season, the Hawks remained competitive as a higher seed.

Then, Atlanta lost seven consecutive games late March. It also came up short in the previous two games, capped with a stinker in Brooklyn.

Typically, surging teams in a tight playoff race garner the most headlines. Atlanta's poor play could open the door for the Pacers or Hornets, who've won three consecutive contests. Despite holding the No. 6 seed, the Hawks can't switch into cruise control.

Atlanta plays the Celtics once and Cavaliers twice from Thursday to Sunday. A seismic fall could drop the Hawks out of the playoff picture for the first time since the 2007 postseason.

The Atlanta Hawks had the worst offense in the entire NBA in March.

In March, their offensive rating was last. Teams like the Pistons and Magic were better on offense.

In February, the Hawks were only better than the 76ers, pre-DeMarcus Cousins Pelicans, Nets, and Magic.

They were 20th in offensive rating in January.

(When the Hawks won 60 games in 2015 and had league-wide attention for one of the only times this century, their offensive rating was sixth in the NBA.)

Paul Millsap is back after missing eight games, but his balky knee means he's relegated to bench duty until further notice. According to Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, there's no indication as to when the Atlanta Hawks' best player will return to the first unit.

The urgency's mounting.

Atlanta is 3-7 since that knee caused Millsap to miss his first game on March 18, and 3-9 in its last dozen games overall. The swoon has the Hawks in real danger of slipping out of the playoffs, a stunning development for a team that was nine games over .500 two months ago.

Missing the postseason after aborting what seemed like a rebuild and keeping free-agent-to-be Millsap would be a disaster. And with the way Atlanta's been playing, the best-case scenario of a first-round out doesn't seem all that appealing either.