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The Atlanta Hawks have lost three straight games and five of their last six. It is a tough stretch for sure and it is no surprise that they find themselves sinking in this week's Power Rankings roundup.
John Schuhmann on NBA.com drops the Hawks to No. 13.
The Hawks did nothing (apologies to Kirk Hinrich) at the deadline and then lost at home to the star-less Heat and Bucks. They're 5-9 over the last month, but are a plus-30 over that stretch. While they've had some comfortable wins, they've lost eight of their last nine games that were within five points in the last five minutes, with Paul Millsap shooting 3-for-20 on clutch shots (0-for-5 against Milwaukee on Saturday).
Marc Stein of ESPN.com drops the Hawks to No. 12
It's up to the slumping Hawks to sort out their leaky defense (of late) and beat Golden State on Monday to prevent the champs from becoming the first team in NBA history to win 50 times in its first 55 games of the season. This is the second straight season, actually, that the Warriors (68.6 percent) and Hawks (65.9) rank as the league's top two in terms of percentage of field goals assisted.
USATODAY.comdrops the Hawks to No. 10.
Atlanta missed 32 of 41 3-pointers in a double-OT loss to Milwaukee to stretch their home losing streak to three.
Matt Moore of CBSsports.com also drops the Hawks to No. 12
Well, they didn't shake up the roster but at least they've lost four of their last five. Lost in the trade deadline madness, Tiago Splitter's hip injury, which will cost him the rest of the season (and his play for Brazil this summer), is more devastating than it looks on the surface.
Jeremy Woo of SI.com also dropped the Hawk to No. 12 this week.
It wasn’t broke, so the Hawks didn’t fix it. Al Horford and Jeff Teague are still there. But two losses and a leaky defense have Atlanta pointed in the wrong direction—and with Golden State up twice in the next four games, at a not-so-great time.
Finally, Kurt Helin of NBCsports.com also manages to put the Hawks at @12 this week.
They kept the core together at the trade deadline, and even brought back an old favorite in Kirk Hinrich. Atlanta thinks in an Eastern Conference with a lot of parity (after Cleveland) they can make another deep playoff run â but not if they play the way they have dropping four-of-five they won't.
That does it for this week in the rankings. It seems pretty unanimous that the Hawks should be ranked at #12 this week. Anyway as always leave your thoughts below.