NBA Power Rankings: Hawks Not Much Lovable

In honor of Valentines Day, SB Nation's Tom Ziller altered from the norm of regular power rankings opting for a "Lovability Edition" this week. Mind you that these aren't your run of the mill rankings as Ziller uses quite a scientific formula for coming up with each team's ratings. However, sadly our Atlanta Hawks didn't fare especially well coming in at No. 21 out of 30 teams.

For this to really make sense then you need to click through to Ziller's article and take a look at the formula.

Moving on to the rest of the rankings, ESPN.com's Marc Stein moves the Hawks up two spots this week to No. 12 and points out a neat little factoid about Eastern Conference teams Vs. teams with a better than .500 record.

Might have to ease up slightly on the Hawks about that 5-9 record against .500-or-better teams ... since Miami is the only team in the East with a winning record (10-4) in that category. J-Smoove's response to getting All-Star snubbed again: 19 boards to Dwight Howard's 18 in an OT win Friday night.

NBA.com's John Schuhmann also moves the Hawks up a spot to No. 8 this week citing the team's Jekyl & Hyde tendencies in losing three straight games at home only to then defeat the Pacers and the Magic. Good thing Sunday's loss to the Heat didn't go into this week's equation.

Atlanta (18-10)
Pace: 92.2 (22), Off: 101.6 (11), Def: 97.0 (7)
After last year's Jekyll and Hyde season, it's hard to really believe in the Hawks. And after three straight home losses, they were about to be written off in this space. Then they picked up big wins over the Pacers and Magic last week to keep us on the fence. Maybe they really have matured and improved.

No. 8 feels about right for Chris Sheridan of Sheridanhoops.com who bumps the Hawks up two spots from No. 10 last week. There is no mention of salary dumps this time around but Sheridan does talk about the Hawks recent good fortunes over an Orlando team that at one time owned them.

LAST WEEK: 2-1 THIS WEEK: 4 games KEY GAME: SUN vs MIA
Gutsy win over the Magic, who they own like the Magic used to own them two years ago. Josh Smith in his last four games: 76 points, 38 boards, 16 assists, 13 blocks. But he's not an All-Star? Four of next five are against teams with winning records. They are 13-1 against sub-.500 teams.

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