NBA Power Rankings: Atlanta Hawks Remain in Bottom Half of the League
In this story:
The Hawks have been a below-average team all season and have also been one of the most injured teams in the NBA this season. They have been in 10th place in the NBA for a while now and despite being 30-38, they are in a good position to land the 10th spot in the Eastern Conference and get the last play-in Tournament spot.
In the latest power rankings from NBA.com's John Schuhmann, the Hawks rank 21st, and here is what Schuhmann had to say about where Atlanta is near the end of the season:
"The Hawks had a rough start to their five-game road trip, shooting 3-for-13 on clutch shots and losing close games in Portland and Utah. But they left nothing to chance in L.A. on Sunday, clobbering the Clippers to get back to .500 (8-8) in games they’ve played without Trae Young.
Three takeaways:
The Hawks’ defense wasn’t good (121.3 points allowed per 100 possessions) in five games without Young before the All-Star break. But it ranks eighth (109.8 allowed per 100) over this 11-game absence. They’ve seen a bigger drop in opponent effective field goal percentage in the paint (from 60.6% previously to 54.3% over the 11 games) than they have on shots from outside the paint (from 55.0% to 50.7%). And while they weren’t facing many great offenses before the weekend, the fifth-ranked Clippers had all three of their stars on Sunday.
Dejounte Murray has expectedly taken on a bigger load in Young’s absence. But with it, he’s seen a slight uptick in efficiency. He has a usage rate of 29.3% and a true shooting percentage of 57.2% over these last 11 games without Young, up from 24.4% and 56.1% prior.
Murray has shot 35-for-63 (56%) on pull-up 2-pointers over these last 11 games and is now at 51.1% for the season, the sixth-best mark among 82 players with at least 100 pull-up 2-point attempts.
With 10 of their 15 games against teams with winning records, the Hawks have a much tougher remaining schedule than the ninth-place Bulls, who they trail by two games in the loss column. They do have two home games remaining against the Hornets, with the first of those (Saturday) the start of a five-game homestand.
Mar 18, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson (1) dunks the ball over Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves (15) in the first half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
The Hawks have been without Trae Young, Onyeka Okongwu, and Kobe Bufkin for a while as well as losing Saddiq Bey to a season-ending injury. There was some good news on the health front yesterday with Okongwu returning for the first time since February 12th and playing 19 minutes in the loss to the Lakers.
Like Schuhmann was saying, the Hawks's defense has been pretty good over the past couple of weeks, but last night was their worst performance, maybe of the season.
The defensive performance last night against the Lakers was atrocious and I am being nice. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Hawks were allowing 144 points per 100 possessions (1st percentile), a 71.1 effective field goal percentage (1st percentile), and an 8% turnover percentage (6th percentile). The Hawks have had one of the worst defenses in the league all year, but they had gotten better over the last three weeks, but they all came crashing down last night.
The Lakers finished the game shooting 58% from the field and 42% from three. LeBron James finished with 25 points, seven rebounds, and 10 assists, Anthony Davis had 22 points, 15 rebounds, and six assists, and D'Angelo Russell led all scorers with 27 points and 10 assists.
Maybe it was just a lucky night for the Lakers, but the Hawks have to defend better than that.
Atlanta wraps up their road trip on Thursday night at 10:30 p.m. vs the Phoenix Suns.
