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Well guys we have just little over a month before the NBA season ends and the playoffs start. The middle of the east is still very tight so the rankings could definitely change by the time the season ends. Even with a couple of rough losses and injuries, our hobbled Hawks are still within the middle of the pack. But lets look away form the standings and take a look at how we are ranked in this weeks edition of the power rankings. To start us off, John Schuhmann of NBA.com ranks us at #15 with mentioning our losses.
Josh Smith had a couple of chances to win Friday's game in Boston at the end of regulation, but committed an awful turnover with 26 seconds left and missed a shot at the buzzer. That may have cost the Hawks two games against teams they''re competing with for playoff position, because after the OT loss, they looked completely gassed back at home against the Nets on Saturday.
Marc Stein of ESPN.com drops us one spot to #16 while mentioning how great Horford has been.
More Al Horford props because we feel kinda guilty for talking so much all season about the Josh Smith situation: Horford is at 17.4 PPG, 10.1 RPG and 3.3 APG for the season. The last Hawk to do that for an entire season was Walt Bellamy way back in 1971-72 (18.6 PPG, 12.8 RPG and 3.2 APG).
Sam Amico of Foxsports.com has us at #12 and makes mention of our future with the cap space.
For a team with seven expiring contracts, Hawks have managed to play together and smart. They may have a different look next season, but they’re making the most of this one.
Finally, Matt Moore of cbssports.com has us at #13 after the rough losses and the road trip that really wore out our players.
Long road trip took too much out of them. Now the Hawks have to get their balance back to stay in the 4-5 matchup.
Well that's it for this weeks power rankings. Our schedule will only get more complex as we have games against the Heat and the Lakers. Hopefully we will be getting some our players healthy this week and make a decent run since injuries have just been hurting us. But as always, let me know what you think and if we have a chance to make a run in the upcoming week.