The Hawks have won eight straight games. They’ve done what they should do in beating teams with weaker records, and it has allowed them to make up ground in the Eastern Conference standings.
That eight-game streak is the longest active in the NBA. It’s also their best streak since the 2020-21 season.
Following Thursday’s win over the Nets, the Hawks increased their chance of making the playoffs to 46.1%, according to Basketball Reference’s playoff probabilities.
But nothing is promised in the NBA and the victory over the Nets provided a stark reminder of that.
The Hawks had one of their worst shooting nights in 16 days, making just 39.3% of their overall field goal attempts. They gutted out Thursday’s win, leaning on defense in the last five minutes. They held the Nets to 8 points in that span.
The Hawks figure to have far less room for error as their schedule winds down to the end of the regular season.
Per Tankathon, the Hawks have the 13th-hardest remaining strength of schedule. Of the 16 games left in the regular season, the Hawks have six games against teams with records above .500.
This season, the Hawks have a 17-24 record against teams with a .500 record or better.
The Hawks have two more home games, including Saturday’s meeting against the Bucks (27-38) and Monday’s matchup against the Magic (37-28).
So far this season, the Hawks have split their season series with the Bucks, including a fairly dominant win last week.
Offensively, the Hawks had one of their best outings of this stretch. But defensively, they had a shaky start before holding the Bucks to 42 points in the second half.
While the Bucks enter Saturday’s game on a three-game losing skid, the Magic have had as hot of a stretch as the Hawks.
The Magic have won six in a row and eight of their last 10 games. Their win streak has propelled them out the Eastern Conference Play-In field and into fifth place.
So, Monday’s meeting will have even bigger implications for the Hawks in the standings.
The Hawks won their first two games against the Magic in their regular-season series on Oct. 25 and Nov. 4. Should the Hawks win Monday’s game, they will win the season series and therefore earn the tiebreak if both teams have the same record by the end of the regular season.
But the Hawks will have one of their toughest challenges over the last two weeks. The Magic have played some of the NBA’s best defense in that span. They’ve posted the third-best defensive efficiency, according to Cleaning the Glass, limiting opponents to 109.5 points per 100 possessions.
Monday’s meeting against the Magic is only the start of what becomes an increasingly tough schedule that includes the Rockets, Pistons, Celtics (twice), Cavaliers (twice) and the Heat.
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