After a up and down week from the Hawks this week, the Hawks are looking to move a couple games over .500 with some of the upcoming home games this week. This past week we saw some gutsy play in a loss, a Horford buzzer beater, and finally a very underwhelming/ turnover filled game in New York. To start things off in this weeks rankings, Jason Patt of Sbnation.com puts our Hawks at #14.
The Hawks shot 60.6 percent overall and made 15 three-pointers against the Knicks on Saturday...and lost. Atlanta turned the ball over 27 times in the game, which is a high in the NBA this season.
Over at BoxscoreGeeks.com, the Hawks fall to #13 and they take note of the many Hawks fans that are hopeful that Brooklyn continues to have a terrible season.
The Hawks are a good middle-of-the-road team right now. They've got some good players with good contracts that give them flexibility. They've also got what may be a lottery pick coming from Brooklyn. The big question is whether they should use their assets to swing for the fences or wait and try to add a super stud rookie from next year's draft. Unless someone made me a godfather offer, I'd wait.
John Schumann of Nba.com keeps the Hawks at #14 who notices our struggle in New York.
Only 6 times in the last 10 years has a team lost a game in which it shot 60 percent. The Hawks have done it twice ... in 2013 ... in New York. Turnovers were a problem on Saturday, but they've allowed over 114 points per 100 possessions in losing four straight on the road. They've been treading water, but a soft schedule can help them cement their spot as the East's third best team entering 2014.
Jimmy of Spencer Foxsports.com also puts the Hawks at #14 and mentioning that we might just be stuck at the third seed.
At .500, the Hawks act as the moat surrounding the Pacers and Heat in the East. Atlanta is capable of holding this .500 mark throughout the season, and it actually could result in home-court advantage in the first round come spring.
Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports drops the Hawks one spot, but he mentions the greatness of Schrö-Time.
Rookie point guard Dennis Schroeder is averaging 16.2 points, 6.6 assists and 3.8 rebounds in five games for D-League Bakersfield Jam.
Marc Stein of ESPN.com moves the Hawks up to #13 mentioning an update in the Korver Streak and Teague's struggles.
Hot: Atlanta is 6-0 on Fridays and Kyle Korver's record run of consecutive games with at least one 3-pointer is poised to reach 100 on Dec. 29 at Orlando. Not: Jeff Teague has posted just one double-digit assist game in his past 15 after racking up six of them in the season's first nine games.
Matt Moore of CBSsports.com drops us a spot to #15 while mentioning how inconsistent this team can be.
They look like No. 7 when they win and No. 20 when they lose and there's not a lot of middle ground.
Kurt Helin of NBCsports.com places the Hawks at #13 and notices that Teague is starting to slow down.
After a strong start to the season Jeff Teague has hit a slump — he is averaging 10.4 points a game on 37.3 percent shooting and his assists are down over his last five games. Atlanta needs him if they want to be the three seed in the East.
Finally, Matt Dollinger of SI.com recognizes how great the Millsap-Horford combo is.
The Hawks have two of the best all-around big men in the NBA, but only a .500 record to show for it. Al Horford and Paul Millsap are the only players in the league averaging at least 16 points, eight rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal while shooting at least 50 percent.
Well that does it for the rankings this week and it looks like our Hawks haven't really moved up or down too much overall. With how the schedule looks this week, the Hawks have a good chance to finally get a game or two over the .500 mark and hopefully gain some momentum going forward into the rest of the season. Anyway let me know what you guys think in the comment section and as Always Go Hawks and Go (Insert team playing the Nets)!!!!!