Lurker

One note, it is no guarantee that Boston beats Milwaukee and Toronto is going to have every incentive to throw the game vs Cleveland to avoid a Cleveland matchup in the second round so it is still very possible that Cleveland ends up #1.

It's not locked but its close. Here are the scenarios: 1. One Milwaukee loss=5th (They have shown they can beat Boston, so it's not a guarantee they lose) 2. One Hawks win=5th 3. Hawks lose out and Milwaukee wins in Boston=7th That's basically it. The Hawks have the tiebreaker if it's a 3 way tie and the Hawks have the tiebreaker against Milwaukee, but lose out with Milwaukee winning in Boston and you lose the tiebreaker against Indiana and give yourself a date with Cleveland in the first.

Tomorrow is almost a must win, because Wednesday will likely be against a desperate Pacers team. Lose both? All your work the last two games will just lead you to likely facing Cleveland in the first round. I "hope" the Hawks split, but as we've seen this season, it is NO guarantee at all. The funny thing is, a few days ago ESPN's BPI said Cleveland is likely the 1st seed. Oops. Now it says Boston is likely to be.

It took overtime, but the Heat did it. Phew. Now the Hawks need to beat Charlotte tomorrow.

Deron Williams really has 31/7/7. 9 turnovers, but still, sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhh.

A vintage Deron Williams sighting might help to hurt the Hawks again in the playoffs.

wait nvm. I didn't realize that Love was playing, although I don't think him playing really makes a difference.

I think the Cavs have decided to let Boston have #1 and yesterday was the last we've seen of the Cavs big three for the regular season.

Oh boy! A 2 game sample size!

Yes, it's a tie. Howard is nowhere near as impactful as y'all think. He will win stats wise vs Gortat but his impact will be a tie at best with him. Again, what year are we in on the Hawks bench? In 2016-2017, outside of Hardaway Jr when he's been on the bench, the bench has not been anywhere near what it used to be. Maybe the 2015 Hawks bench is far superior, but this bench is at best a slight advantage and it will not be a factor in winning a series, especially with the Wizards going balls out and having their major guys play 38 MPG, minimum.

Morris is a bigger piece than freaking Jose Calderon.

26 point leads aren't commonly blown. Look, the only Hawks advantage against the Wizards when you go straight up is really Paul Millsap and it's not as big as an advantage as it was. Everything else is a tie or varying from advantage Wizards to major advantage Wizards. Using the top 8 men on the team (in my opinion), assuming this is the starting lineup going forward and Calderon, Bazemore, and Ilyasova are the key backups (not in order): C - Tie PF - advantage Hawks SF - moderate advantage Wizards SG - advantage Wizards PG - major advantage Wizards 6th (Ilyasova and Bogdanovic): advantage Hawks 7th: (Bazemore and Oubre): advantage Wizards (I don't like Oubre but he sucks less than Bazemore) 8th: (Calderon and Jennings): advantage Hawks in theory but not really a big advantage because Jennings' mins will likely be limited.

Maybe not negate, but a better way to put is shrink it to where it's not as big as an advantage as it was in the past. The Hawks are 2-5 against the Wizards since they acquired Morris and Millsap has shown he can't stop Morris because oh wait, he's a stretch big man.

The bench doesn't matter as much in the playoffs.

Y'all are going to see. The Morris twin helps completely negate Paul Millsap's major positive effects on the Hawks. And so it lands on the backcourt from there and as we've seen, while they're nice and can likely match stats wise, they won't lead you to victories on their own unless they are really hot.

I am a Hawks fan. Sorry but I'm completely pessimistic about this team. I'm going to be happy if I'm wrong but a first round exit is very likely for numerous reasons. A sweep is likely if Bud doesn't stop with this big rotation thing that he's done lately. Not a blowout sweep but a sweep nonetheless. Its not like this team is actually 'good' this year. It might be the weakest of the Bud teams. Limit the rotation to 8-9 and the Hawks will be out in 6/7. Big rotation and it'll be 4/5.

Yes, I will be happy but this team has made me very pessimistic. I see a sweep and a series that is not even close. And you admitting that you're 100% wrong on Wall.

I'll be happy if I'm wrong but the Hawks are likely to lose and lose badly against the Wizards if the series happens. 4 game sweep with two blowouts.

He's done it for most of the season. They have grown up and are letting their play do the talking for them and as it turns out, they are very good.

Sounds like the 2015-2016 Wizards. That's not the 2016-2017 Wizards. They have really grown up and let their play on the court do the talking instead of talk themselves.

On paper the lineup/rotation is enough to get 75-78 but a bad bullpen and bench has hurt much better teams.

Porter is an outstanding defender. He has a history of completely quieting guys that are going off. He wasn't on Hardaway Jr that much in the last game. They're bad defensively? So? They may be bad (they are) but Porter and Wall will lock Hardaway Jr and Schröder and that's the Hawks only threats on the perimeter.

Millsap-Love basically cancels each other out because Millsap doesn't defend stretch big men well and this dates back to pre Dwight. Shoot he wasn't even on Love yesterday. He was on Frye and both him and Howard were playing trash PNR defense when out there together. It may seem funny but recent history says if Millsap isn't on LeBron he will play trash defense against their stretch big men against the Cavs. His bad defense against Frye/Love almost singlehandedly was why the Hawks lost the home set against the Cavs last spring in the playoffs. I mean there was almost no other reason. Kyrie will score and LeBron will be LeBron. You can't let Frye/Love get and make a ton of quality threes.

You will never have an idea of how a playoff series is going to go until it happens. Once we get there, Porter will likely be on Hardaway Jr, and he and Wall are their good defenders, and I mean they're very good at defense when they're motivated. They are not good defensively as a team, but they have good defenders that can lock the Hawks biggest perimeter threats. I mean Taurean would have to grow up in a HURRY (he'd have to play like Boston/Memphis every game) and Bazemore would have to play like first half 15/16 Bazemore, and even then it might just make the series a 7 game series. If neither happens, an ugly sweep is on the way for the Hawks.

They were fueled in a bad way last year. This year, they've been fueled in a good way about their anger on 2015. This will be ugly unless Taurean grows up in a hurry and Bazemore doesn't act like he has no brain.