As the 2021-2022 NBA regular season end approaches, the Atlanta Hawks find themselves currently battling to make the post season and at the moment, are sitting in the 10th position, which would have them having to play in the “play in tournament”. Coming off a season last year in which Atlanta found themselves advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals, to the surprise of many, the Hawks have had their fair share of struggles this season with just two seven game win streaks, the only times the Hawks won more than two consecutive games, and two losing streaks of five or more games.
So what has led to the Hawks’ struggles this season and why has it been so difficult for them to get back to last season’s second half form. For starters, one may say that the Hawks have relied too much on Trae Young this season and they have not really seen another player step up as a legitimate number two guy. Young, averaging 27.8 ppg, has been the team’s highest scorer in 41 of their 65 games played this season with John Collins, who averages 16.6 ppg, being the second to have the team high in scoring just seven times this season. When it comes to the win, loss columns, the Hawks are 18-6 when Young scores 30 or more points, but when he totals less than 30, the Hawks are a sub-five hundred team at 13-24.
Now on a good note, as the eastern conference currently stands, the Hawks have beaten each team ahead of them in the standings at least once. However, when you begin to talk about the playoffs, there has to be some concern with the fact that the above mentioned win, loss record based on Trae Young’s scoring performance, could prove to be a problem for the Hawks when looking at best of five and best of seven game series, especially due to the fact that no other current Hawks player has been a reliable source of offensive production on a consistent basis. The most concerning would have to be 13-24 record when Young scores less than 30 points in a game because in a best of series, the Hawks would almost need a 30 plus performance from Young in more than half the series in order to win it.
It’s not to say that, things cannot turn around for the Hawks should they hold on down the stretch of the regular season and earn a playoff berth, however with Trae Young being the only consistent offensive player for Atlanta, if anyone questions the validity of the Hawks’ roster and has doubt on them winning a championship, if we’re being honest, you would have to say that they are justified in their lack of optimism. Of the nine teams currently ahead of the Hawks in the Eastern Conference standings, Atlanta will face five of them in their final 17 games. Charlotte (2-1), Cleveland (2-1), Brooklyn (0-2), Toronto (1-2) and Miami (1-2) are all teams that the Hawks have beaten and loss to this season with Trae scoring 30 or more in five of the match ups and less than 30 in seven of the match ups.