Thanks to last night’s win over Portland, the Hawks are back at .500 with just under a month left in the regular season.
After rattling off three straight wins at State Farm Arena, the Hawks now occupy the 9th-seed in the Eastern Conference. This would currently place Atlanta in the NBA play-in tournament where they’d have to win two games in order to secure the 8th and final playoff spot.
To avoid the tournament altogether, the Hawks need to reach the 6th-seed. As it stands, they’re five games back of the spot held by the Cleveland Cavaliers while also being 4.5 games ahead of the 11th-seeded Washington Wizards.
Joining the Midday Show on 92.9 The Game this afternoon, head coach Nate McMillan told the guys that the Hawks aren’t hiding from the truth entering the final month of the season in terms of their playoff position.
“We know exactly where we are," he said. "We have a board with the standings in our gym and we see it every day that we come into the building, so of course, we talk about it and we understand where we are and what we need to do.”
McMillan stressed that the Hawks need to approach each game from here on out with a playoff mentality, beginning with tomorrow’s matchup against the 10th place Hornets.
“We know that tomorrow night is going to be a really important game with Charlotte just a game behind us. This race, with only 14 games remaining, every game really is a critical game and can make a difference in playing yourself into the playoffs," he said.
The Hawks will be without John Collins tomorrow as he deals with both a lingering foot injury and an injury to a finger on his right hand. Danilo Gallinari missed the Portland game with a non-COVID illness and McMillan said he will be a game-time decision tomorrow in Charlotte.
