Don’t look now but with just five games remaining in the regular season, the Hawks are suddenly playing some of their best basketball and have moved into a three-way tie for the 8th seed with the Cavaliers, Hornets and Nets—their opponent in tonight’s crucial matchup in Atlanta.
Joining Sam and Greg on 92.9 The Game this morning, NBA analyst Terrell Thomas expressed confidence in the Hawks ahead of tonight’s game, saying that their four-game winning streak has been the perfect warm-up for this final postseason push. He added that Atlanta has shown an innate ability to hold their own against stiffer competition this season.
“They’ve played up to competition and sadly they’ve played down to completion. So, with them knowing that an elite talent like the Brooklyn Nets are coming into the building tonight, I’m quite sure they’ll be ready to play up to whatever intensity Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and the Nets come with this evening," he said.
It starts with tonight’s game, but if the Hawks can make it up to the 8th seed—currently 10th—their path to the postseason becomes much simpler as they would only have to win one game in the play-in tournament as opposed to two.
If they can find their way into the full postseason, Thomas shared his belief that teams wouldn’t want to face a Hawks team that could enter a series with some momentum.
“I believe regardless of all the struggles we’ve seen or the roller coaster ride that they've taken us on this season, I think once they get into the playoffs and it gets down to matchups, coaching and schemes, I think the Hawks matchup with a lot of teams very well," Thomas said.
Sam Crenshaw wondered aloud if the Hawks could follow in the footsteps of another Atlanta squad that struggled to get above .500 before finally turning it around and going on a postseason run for the ages—the World Series champion Atlanta Braves.
