Season's second half to get harder for Hawks

[Wurider05]

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Joe Johnson often says the most important thing for the Hawks is "just going out and having fun" and their victory at Sacramento last week was exactly what he meantThe Hawks crisply passed the ball for open shots, made most of them and the hapless Kings could do little about it. Sparked by their offense, the Hawks defended with vigor and pushed the pace at every opportunity.

“It picks up our energy on defense because we can’t wait to get out and run on offense,” Hawks guard Jamal Crawford said.

The Hawks are a force when their offense clicks against opponents that can't match their talent. That's a major reason they entered Thursday tied for third in the Eastern Conference after 40 games.

But they will find neither of those circumstances in the playoffs, where any talent deficit is small and those open shots are harder to find. They will have to play the grinding, defensive games in which they've regularly faltered.

In other words, the postseason won't nearly be as fun for the Hawks as a January game at Sacramento. What happens then?

The Hawks won't have to wait until the playoffs to get some clues to the answer.

For all their flaws, the Hawks enter the second half of the regular season on a roll. They have the longest active winning streak in the conference (five games) and have won nine of their last 11 games.

But Atlanta's 26-14 record has been earned mostly against weaker teams in what has been the easiest schedule in the East.

According to data complied by ESPN's John Hollinger, entering Thursday Atlanta's opponents had the lowest combined winning percentage (.463) of any team in the conference. Atlanta was 4-9 against opponents that currently have winning records and 22-5 against those below .500.

The Hawks counter those facts by rightly noting that they've dealt with key injuries while playing a schedule that has been difficult by volume if not competition.

Atlanta played a conference-high 40 games over the first 79 days of the season, including 11 sets of back-to-back games. Its next 42 games are spread over 89 calendar days with 11 back-to-back sets.

The busy schedule has exacerbated Atlanta's injuries. Hawks players have missed 47 games due to injuries or illness, including 29 games by starters and key reserves.

Atlanta also has faced its toughest competition on the road, where it owns a 3-6 mark against winning teams. From here on, they will face more of those teams at Philips Arena, where they've won 10 in a row.

To beat those teams, the Hawks will have to have to find a way to win when it's tough for them to score. Good teams that have engaged the Hawks in tightly-contested games usually beat them because Atlanta can't make key defensive stops.

Often that's because Atlanta's guards get beat off the dribble. That leads to open jumpers, drive-and-dishes for easy shots or baskets on offensive rebounds because Atlanta’s big men are constantly helping.

Those breakdowns will make it difficult for the Hawks to win tight games in the postseason, when simply outscoring opponents is not a winning strategy. Until they beat the best teams when they can't play their style, the Hawks can't be considered among the East's elite.

They will get their chance to do that over the season's second half

We are about to find out what we are really made of now fellas. Is it me or is Michael Cunningham is way better beat writer than Sekou Smith.

[Dexmethylphenidate]

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We are about to find out what we are really made of now fellas. Is it me or is Michael Cunningham is way better beat writer than Sekou Smith.

The article seems to missing a reason why.

Which team are they facing and when?

[macdaddy]

We are doing well. We've beaten Orlando yet we still aren't mentioned in the same breath with them for some reason.

I would have agreed that MC was a good beat writer until I read his pathetic 'mid season player analysis'. I could have written this in my sleep. It contained almost zero insight or useful info. But most of his stuff is good.

[NineOhTheRino]

The article seems to missing a reason why.

Which team are they facing and when?

agree but I still loved this

According to data complied by ESPN's John Hollinger, entering Thursday Atlanta's opponents had the lowest combined winning percentage (.463) of any team in the conference. Atlanta was 4-9 against opponents that currently have winning records and 22-5 against those below .500.

The Hawks counter those facts by rightly noting that they've dealt with key injuries while playing a schedule that has been difficult by volume if not competition.

Atlanta played a conference-high 40 games over the first 79 days of the season, including 11 sets of back-to-back games. Its next 42 games are spread over 89 calendar days with 11 back-to-back sets.

The back-to-backs and road wins have to give you guys a warm- fuzzy feeling in the pits of your belly.

Edited January 14, 2011 by NineOhTheRino

[Diesel]

We are doing well. We've beaten Orlando yet we still aren't mentioned in the same breath with them for some reason.

I would have agreed that MC was a good beat writer until I read his pathetic 'mid season player analysis'. I could have written this in my sleep. It contained almost zero insight or useful info. But most of his stuff is good.

I think our biggest win was against Utah. We punished Utah with offense as fluid as it has been and I believe it is because we are somewhat Healthy.

I agree that we are going to face better teams but I don't think that means anyone should negate that wehave been injured this first half and now we're starting to get our sea legs under us.

[Seano]

The end of February and the first half of March are looking really rugged schedule-wise, starting with the 7 game, 14 day road trip beginning on Valentines Day and in which we play @ Detroit, @ NYK, @ LAL, @ PHO, @ GS, @ POR, and @ DEN, with the LA/PHO and POR/DEN games being back to backs. Then we come home in March and get a stretch in which we play 8 out of 9 at home, but those home games are hardly gimmes either as they come against the likes of the Bulls, the Knicks, the Thunder, the Lakers, the Blazers, the Nuggets, the Heat, and the Bulls (again), all those sandwiched around a one game road trip to Chicago.

That's a schedule right there which will separate the men from the boys, so I'm just hoping for good health and that we are fully clicking on all cylinders at that point in the season. We're gonna need to be.

[sasuke]

I think it was sometime this past summer where MC officially passed Sekou in my mind. MC actually has knowledge of the CBA, is receptive to corrections (if he has any about the CBA), and stays up to date with how the Hawks could be affected by the CBA. Sekou was a dope with those kinds of things, although Sekou is/was probably better at player relations than MC but both are god at player relations so how much better would one actually want MC to be? I hope MC is our beat writer for a long time, but I think its pretty obvious in a year or two he will be moving up in the NBA writing world and probably on the national stage. We have had a lot of media members use the Hawks as a stepping stone with Sekou, 3-D, Smitty, and I'm probably forgetting more.

The second half is going to be tougher for the Hawks, I felt it was odd during the first half that Drew talked as if we were weathering the storm. Our schedule was tough with back-to-backs but our competition was pathetic. Now we will see an uptick in competition while also having the same number of back-to-backs. If we keep the same winning % then I will be thoroughly impressed. One interesting thing to note is that even though the Heat went on a massive tear of winning like 22 of their last 24, they are still only 4 games ahead of us. We still have a shot at the division.

WOW!!!!!

Now I've seen it all