The Hawks are down but not out.
The Atlanta Hawks suffered a disappointing defeat at the hands of the Toronto Raptors last night. This removed them from the sixth seed, meaning the play-in tournament teams would be the Cleveland Cavaliers, Brooklyn Nets, Atlanta Hawks and Charlotte Hornets (in their current order).
The silver lining is the Hawks still have significant control over their seeding in the play-in tournament. As of this morning, the Hawks are 9th in the Eastern Conference with a 41-38 record.
92.9 FM The Game's Mike Conti laid out the current tiebreakers:
- The Hawks have a one-on-one tiebreaker over the Cavaliers.
- The Nets have a face-to-face tiebreaker over the Hawks.
- The Hawks have a one-on-one tiebreaker on Charlotte.
- If the Cavs, Nets and Hawks end in a three-way tie, the order is currently Net-Hawks-Cavaliers. But keep in mind, the Nets play the Cavs again.
This is happening a lot. But the good news is that if the Hawks win, they will be no less than the 8th seed. But of course, it's huge if. Getting seeded 7th or 8th doubles a team's chances of progressing to the playoffs.
After last night's loss to the Raptors, Hawks point guard Trey Young gave the following quote. "It's definitely been a different year. Obviously, we wish we were higher in the standings, but we're not, and we're where we are. So we have to take care of business with who's next, And we're the Wizards tomorrow and it's got to take one game at a time. And then the playoffs, if they start and we're in it, it's 0-0. And that's how I look at it."
The road to the playoffs continues tonight with a massive game against the Washington Wizards at the State Farm Arena. As always, we'll be live-tweeting the game and will be back here later for your post-game recap. Stay tuned to Sports Illustrated's AllHawks.com for breaking news, highlights and analysis.