The next 13 games will let us know if we're good or not

[shakes]

The season has been saved (for now) but now it's time to figure out if we can do more than just save the season, can we actually thrive?   Next up is a 13 game murderer's row stretch of games that lead us into Thanksgiving.

@ Milwaukee

@ Toronto

@ New York

Vs. New Orleans

Vs. Milwaukee

Vs. Utah

Vs Philly (2nd half of back to back games)

Vs Philly

@ Milwaukee again

Vs Boston

Vs Toronto

@ Cleveland

Vs Sacramento

 

I think we need to go 7-6 to prove we have what it takes to thrive this season and compete for a top 5 seed in the playoffs.

 

Anything less than 7-6 and we're most likely looking at another trip to the playin tourney or a 6th seed at best.

 

[Guest]

11 of 13 pretty tough games.  Whew.  Time to see what we're made of for sure.

[shakes]

4 minutes ago, LongTimeFan said:

11 of 13 pretty tough games.  Whew.  Time to see what we're made of for sure.

yea that's why I was so adamant about us needing to go 5-0 in those first 5 games.     4-1 is livable I guess, but we might really wish we still had that extra game cushion in about 10 games or so.   

 

 

[NBASupes]

This is what great teams do.

[RedDawg#8]

We need to at least split with Philly and Toronto.

We need to win against Knicks, Utah, and Sac

We need at least 1 of the 3 against Milwaukee

And we need to win at least 1 against either Cleveland, Boston, New Orleans.

That’s your 7 wins. That’s doable.

I think we have a shot at more.

 

[Gray Mule]

Is it panic time (again)?  Gotta win 7 of 13?  What if we go 5/8?  That would mean 9/9 for the season.  We would still have that other two games to go to reach the twenty.

Two seasons ago, Hawks were so good.  Went to eastern finals.  Then, last season, Hawks went thru the play-in, only to fall in five.

Just how good are we?  How good is the competition?  I sincerely believe, on any given night, any NBA team can beat any other NBA team.  There is no perfect NBA team.  Each and every one has their flaws.  Unlike college, where a big school can schedule a small school to guarantee victory.  No one has a single NBA game with a guaranteed victory before the game is played.

Therefore the question arises, "Should we dread playing these teams or should they dread playing the Hawks?"  I'm not giving up anything.  One victory at a time!!

[sturt]

4 hours ago, shakes said:

I think we need to go 7-6 to prove we have what it takes to thrive this season and compete for a top 5 seed in the playoffs.

Reminder.

Last season's EC champ didn't prove they had what it takes to thrive until 50 games into the season.

Just sayin.

 

 

[JayBirdHawk]

5 hours ago, shakes said:

 

@ Milwaukee

@ Toronto

@ New York

I'm more concerned about HOW we play on these next 3 roadies. Road games are tough. Win at least 1 (hoping for 2).. we would be 3-2 on the 5 game road trip.

[JayBirdHawk]

5 hours ago, shakes said:

Vs. New Orleans

Vs. Milwaukee

Vs. Utah

Vs Philly (2nd half of back to back games)

Vs Philly

5 home games - The Farm needs to be a place where it's hard for other teams to win. I'm ok with 4-1

[JayBirdHawk]

5 hours ago, shakes said:

 

@ Milwaukee again

Vs Boston

Vs Toronto

@ Cleveland

Vs Sacramento

Why are we playing the Bucks again so soon?

3Home 1 away. 

Again, we have to be tough at home.

[shakes]

part of my calculations regarding a 7-6 record included going 1-2 on this opening road trip.   So, 1-2 but we are on the right path to finish this stretch at 7-6.

 

Season still alive!

[JayBirdHawk]

On 10/29/2022 at 11:42 AM, shakes said:

Vs. New Orleans

Vs. Milwaukee

Vs. Utah

Vs Philly (2nd half of back to back games)

@ Philly

The 2nd Philly game is at their place.

So we have 4 home games coming up.  Like I said before I want The Farm to have real homecourt so it's difficult for other teams to win there.

Ideally we go 4-0.

My hope is the team is still not on so much of a high from the comeback against the Nix and are too relaxed coming home and not ready to play vs NOP.

[sturt]

If we play hard on the road and end up with close losses in all three, I can live with that. I echo Jay's main concern... winning at home is huge.

If two weeks from tonight we're able to say we've defeated NOP, MIL, UTA (who's playing well, btw), PHI, BOS and TOR, that's 7-3 in the last 10 games even if we lose @PHI and @MIL. Have to feel pretty good with that outcome, or even 6-4 if we were competitive in all four losses.

[shakes]

3-2 and on pace for the 7-6 I said we needed to be an elite team this year.

[RedDawg#8]

On 10/29/2022 at 2:25 PM, RedDawg#8 said:

We need to at least split with Philly and Toronto.

We need to win against Knicks, Utah, and Sac

We need at least 1 of the 3 against Milwaukee

And we need to win at least 1 against either Cleveland, Boston, New Orleans.

That’s your 7 wins. That’s doable.

I think we have a shot at more.

 

We are on pace for my outlined path, but I will say, I did not think the Jazz would maintain their level of play.

I’m going to add them to the category with NOP, BOS, and CLE, and say that we need to win 2 of those games now. We already picked up one against the Pels, so we need 1 more out of the 3 against the others.

 

[JeffS17]

3-2 is not a bad start, considering two of those losses were on the road.  Looking forward to the game against Toronto at home -- I am hoping we can show a lot more than our first matchup.  We can sweep Philly if we play well, but expect Embiid to camp out at the FT line, especially in that road game

[JayBirdHawk]

On 10/29/2022 at 11:42 AM, shakes said:

Vs. New Orleans

Vs. Milwaukee

Vs. Utah

Vs Philly (2nd half of back to back games)

3-1 on the home stand. 

On 10/29/2022 at 11:42 AM, shakes said:

@ Philly again

@ Milwaukee again

I'd be happy with 1-1

[shakes]

11 hours ago, JayBirdHawk said:

3-1 on the home stand. 

I'd be happy with 1-1

Going to be very difficult to him the 7-6 goal with the games we have coming up.

[Gray Mule]

4 hours ago, shakes said:

Going to be very difficult to him the 7-6 goal with the games we have coming up.

Hawks have, for several years, played up or down to the competition.  Harder, tougher games simply means that Atlanta will be playing harder and tougher.  I hope I'm correct on this.

[JeffS17]

Tough stretch upcoming, I really hope we can knock Philly down again tomorrow -- I expect the game to be MUCH harder than last night, with Embiid likely living at the line tomorrow and Phillys role players playing better.

After that, I like our chance against Boston -- Murray will help a lot with JB and Hunter does a decent job on Tatum.  The two toughest game will be Milwaukee on the road and Toronto at home in my opinion.  If we can win one of those I'm confident we can go 3-3 in the next 6.