7th or 6th seat

[Harry10]

Remaining Schedule

Chicago
Milwaukee
Chicago
New York
Memphis
Toronto
Philadelphia
Philadelphia
Indiana
New York
Boston
Orlando
Miami

i hope the players realize that the 7th and 6th in the east is still a possibility. Hawks are 5 games back, those two PHI games will be critical, and if the Hawks can luck out and do well against TOR, then things might work out, so as long as they don't screw it up and play smart basketball, the Hawks can make a run.

i actually would rather face BOS than DET, but man, if the Hawks can get into a 7 game series against Orlando, how killa would that be.[/b]

[JoshB914]

We need to hold home court and keep playing hard on the road. I just want to get into the playoffs first.

[_BBIB_]

Yeah first goal, make the playoffs PERIOD.

But you're right those two seeds are up for grabs.

It's not a matter of do we have the talent to beat the teams left on the schedule.

The overwhelming majority of those games are winnable. Even the tough games are at home and a couple may be against teams resting their starters.


The key will be if this team is hungry enough to bring it every night. We struggle mightily against teams we should beat.

[Harry10]

some good news.... DEN today came back to beat TOR.

[HoopsGuru25]

The Hawks aren't going to get the the 6th seed. Toronto just got Bosh back and Philly is just better than us(I have no idea why when looking at their roster). Indiana passing us for the 8th seed is much more likely than us passing two teams for the 6th seed. If we wanted the 6th seed we shouldn't have lost to teams like Charlotte while Philly was beating teams like Phoenix on the road.

I am satisfied with the 8th seed as long as the Hawks are playing well(which they have been doing since the Houston game). 12 of the 13(besides Boston) remaining games look winnable and 7 of them are must win games. If the Hawks really are playing every game like a playoff game(they say they are)then they should win 9(maybe 10) of these last 13.

[Harry10]

The Hawks aren't going to get the the 6th seed. Toronto just got Bosh back and Philly is just better than us(I have no idea why when looking at their roster). Indiana passing us for the 8th seed is much more likely than us passing two teams for the 6th seed. If we wanted the 6th seed we shouldn't have lost to teams like Charlotte while Philly was beating teams like Phoenix on the road.

I am satisfied with the 8th seed as long as the Hawks are playing well(which they have been doing since the Houston game). 12 of the 13(besides Boston) remaining games look winnable and 7 of them are must win games. If the Hawks really are playing every game like a playoff game(they say they are)then they should win 9(maybe 10) of these last 13.

then by your count, the Hawks beat PHI twice.

TOR's schedule isn't so bad, but they did lose today. but PHI's remaining schedule is very hard. Sixers still have to face BOS, PHX, CLE twice, DET, WAS, and then you add their back to back meetings with ATL and things could shift. it is possible , i just hope the Hawks do what the Braves do, and start getting hyped for the playoff race.

Philly is just better than us

for this year, as of now, Hawks are 2-0 against the Sixers.

[HoopsGuru25]

Keep in mind the Hawks have to pass two teams to get the sixth seed(I don't think many here would care about getting the 7th as opposed to the 8th). Philly only has 12 games left...if they win 6 of those(which probably will happen given how well they have played)the Hawks will have to go 11-2 to catch them. Philly's schedule looks tough on paper until you remember that they have beaten Denver,San Antonio,Phoenix,and Dallas during their run. The odds of both Philly and Toronto playing terrible down the stretch while the Hawks play near perfect ball isn't very likely. There is a MUCH greater chance of missing the playoffs than getting the 6th seed.

I look at our schedule like this. The games we should definitely win are at home against Chicago/Milwaukee/New York/and possibly Philly. The road games we should definitely win are Memphis/New York/Miami because those teams are tanking and we should be playing at playoff intensity. The toss up road games are Chicago/ Indiana/Philly. We have to get atleast one of these games. The tossup home games are Toronto/Orlando...the Hawks should get one(hopefully both)of these games. I'm counting the Boston game as a loss but you never know. I think the Hawks should get 9 wins against this schedule if they play every game at playoff intensity.

[Harry10]

Keep in mind the Hawks have to pass two teams to get the sixth seed(I don't think many here would care about getting the 7th as opposed to the 8th). Philly only has 12 games left...if they win 6 of those(which probably will happen given how well they have played)the Hawks will have to go 11-2 to catch them. Philly's schedule looks tough on paper until you remember that they have beaten Denver,San Antonio,Phoenix,and Dallas during their run. The odds of both Philly and Toronto playing terrible down the stretch while the Hawks play near perfect ball isn't very likely. There is a MUCH greater chance of missing the playoffs than getting the 6th seed.

I look at our schedule like this. The games we should definitely win are at home against Chicago/Milwaukee/New York/and possibly Philly. The road games we should definitely win are Memphis/New York/Miami because those teams are tanking and we should be playing at playoff intensity. The toss up road games are Chicago/ Indiana/Philly. We have to get atleast one of these games. The tossup home games are Toronto/Orlando...the Hawks should get one(hopefully both)of these games. I'm counting the Boston game as a loss but you never know. I think the Hawks should get 9 wins against this schedule if they play every game at playoff intensity.

Sixers still have to face BOS, PHX, CLE twice, DET, WAS

Boston is Boston and they will do what they do.

Detroit is also elite, and lost to the sixers a few days ago at home by one point. i don't think Pistons are happy about that.

Suns are in a playoff race in the west for #1 seat

and both Cleveland and Washington are fighting for home court advantage in the first round.

Sixers have been playing great team ball, but boy, nobody is going to take it easy on them in the last 12 games.

Bosh is back, but Rap are still in a slump

good news for the Hawks is that BOS and maybe ORL might put it on cruse control when they meet again.

...... but Hawks still have to beat the bad teams, but man it is great being in the playoff race again.

[Tommy Udo 6]

Remember that Chicago has a losing record at home. (16-18) In the East, only Heat & Knicks are worse at home.

[High 5]

Philly is playing way over their heads. (kind of like Portland earlier in the season) Hopefully they come back down to earth quickly.

[Master8492]

Portland is a good team; they'd be playing for the playoff if it was a normal season in the west.

[High 5]

I didn't say they weren't a good team, but they aren't as good as they were during that 16 game winning streak.

[Skyhawk1]

I find it really hard for us to move even to the 7th spot, but as long as we grab that 8th spot, I don't care. This is the season our team and the fans taste a bit of playoffs so that we can have that kind of culture around here. I'm very pleased with the change in attitude we've seen lately. Our guys have stepped it up. We're hanging in there and competing every night. That might sound very trivial, but we all know that it hasn't always been like that in the ATL.

[bruno sundov]

Are you guys going to make the playoffs this year or what? I hope so.

[JoshB914]

Are you guys going to make the playoffs this year or what? I hope so.

We hope so too, and glad you're on our side. It feels like everyone is pulling for us.

Are we really talking about making the playoffs in late March? This is new...

[conleyorbust]

Our game against Indy is gonna be big.

Its hard to play the "should win" game with the Hawks because they always hit a skid right when you expect them to win some games and right when you are about to say they are done for good they will have a win streak.

I think we'll make the playoffs but I'm not ready to say we have a real shot at passing Philly/TO, they'd have to slide quite a bit and we'd have to play flawlessly.

[M301E814W404]

There is no reason that we cant get to the 6th seed. After Boston and Detroit, I think we can beat any other team in a 7 game series. The way we are playing now, no one wants to face us.

[bruno sundov]

I know the pain of losing. It will wear on you after a while. I want to see you guys consistantly do well over the years.

[Kosta]

Outsider opinion, making up 4.5 games in 12 is nearly impossible, not only that, but making up that much ground on TWO teams almost never happens in any sport.

Toronto's schedule: (Picking the games very conservatively, almost worst case scenario)

Detroit-L
New York-W
New Orleans-L
@Charlotte-L
@Atlanta-L
Charlotte-W
@New Jersey-L
Milwaukee-W
New Jersey-W
@Detroit-L
Miami-W
@Chicago-W

Pretty easy schedule for Toronto, although we're struggling, going 6-6 is probably the worst possible scenario considering we have the likes of Charlotte, Jersey, Miami, Milwaukee and New York at home.

If we went 6-6 you guys would have to go 12-1 in your final 13 games to overtake us, because no matter what you do against us next game, we'll still hold the tie breaker. We go 5-7, you need to go 11-2. 4-8 you need to go 10-3. 3-9 you need to go 9-4. And again, with that remaining schedule for the Raptors to go worse than 6-6 they'd have to straight tank.

In short, it's extremely unlikely to happen.

[tontoz]

Outsider opinion, making up 4.5 games in 12 is nearly impossible, not only that, but making up that much ground on TWO teams almost never happens in any sport.

Nothing else needs to be said.