Atlanta Hawks: On playoff seeding
Judging by the persistent questions from Tweeps, it seems there is some confusion about what happens if the No. 5 seed in the East finishes with a better record than the No. 4 seed. This is possible because division winners can finish no worse than No. 4. This season the No. 5 seed could very well have a better record than the Atlantic winner. It’s why the Hawks remain behind the Celtics (and before that, the Sixers) in the standings even though they have the better record, which only adds to the confusion.
I’ve maintained all along that the Hawks would get home-court advantage if that’s the way they finish but the questions persist. So, to put it to rest once and for all, I e-mailed NBA spokesman Tim Frank. His reply:
“Better record always gets home court.”
There it is, plainly stated. The Hawks would get home-court advantage as the No. 5 seed if their record is better than a division winner with a worst record. As it stands now, that means the Hawks would play host to the Celtics in the first round even though the Celtics would have the better seed.
You might ask why reward a division winner the No. 4 seed if it doesn’t get home-court advantage anyway. In practice, it assures that a division winner will face an opponent with no better than the fourth-best record in the conference. Normally that’s not relevant but it can be in a season like this, the best Atlantic teams are bunched together
with so-so records.
Besides, as Josh Smith wryly noted the other day when the topic came up: “They get to hang up a banner.”
Michael Cunningham, Hawks beat
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
407 comments Add your comment
Joe D
April 10th, 2012
9:11 pm
Astro Joe & Steve W.
No one will take Marvin’s contract without a big carrot! In order to sign Josh and Ivan, Marvin has to go Period! Next year’s #1 will be some where in the low to mid twentys. Therefore, it must be sacrificed to dump Marvin!
Please stop with the Favors dreams, he does not have the desire to be Great. We don’t need another underachiever! Can you say, Marvin!
Melvin
April 10th, 2012
9:21 pm
I hope the Celtics leave their shooting stroke in Miami…
Najeh Davenpoop
April 10th, 2012
9:22 pm
The Celtics have gone on a huge run in the 4th quarter here, consisting ENTIRELY of made mid-range jumpers.
Slimjr
April 10th, 2012
9:24 pm
Jump shooters in da House!
Najeh Davenpoop
April 10th, 2012
9:34 pm
In crunch time, Miami runs isos every play, but the Celtics still manage to run plays every possession and share the ball.
Slimjr
April 10th, 2012
9:37 pm
A very Proud man got crushed today..Sad..He was once called the most powerful man in Arkansas! Very sad.. The ____________ is undefeated..Ask Tiger….
Boston will be brutal with the home court advantage in the 1st round…It may be a very quick ride….This playoff run..Stay tuned..
Najeh Davenpoop
April 10th, 2012
9:41 pm
Miami fans bailed with 2 minutes left. A lot of Celtics fans in that arena even before the fans started leaving.
Bad result for the Hawks. Celtics creep closer to gaining home court over the Hawks if they meet as the 4-5 matchup. Heat lose and get closer to locking themselves in as the 2 seed — bad matchup if the Hawks get the #3 or #6 and advance. Ideally the Hawks would have home court as the 5 seed and play Chicago in the 2nd round.
DawgNole
April 10th, 2012
9:46 pm
Celtics earned a hard-fought victory over Miami tonight. Now a long flight home to get ready for the Hawks, who’ve rested for 3 days. These are the games the Hawks MUST win to earn credibility, and there’ll be no excuse for letting this one slip by.
Najeh Davenpoop
April 10th, 2012
9:50 pm
Forget credibility — if the Hawks lose this game they probably won’t have home court in the first round. They can lose their last three games for all I care, but they have to win these next two.
jeppz23
April 10th, 2012
9:52 pm
The magic lost to the wizards tonight!
Melvin
April 10th, 2012
9:54 pm
This Hawks core has never lost a playoff series when they have homecourt advantage. They better beat Boston tomorrow or watch the homecourt advantage fade away.
DawgNole
April 10th, 2012
9:56 pm
No, DON’T forget credibility. They need it badly and always have. And it will only come by winning these types of games against worthy opponents.
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
April 10th, 2012
10:01 pm
Cuban on Odom
”I just asked him, does he want to go for it or not. Is he in or is he out? I think he thought we were playing poker. I just didn’t get a commitment. And that was the end,” Cuban said. ”This was a big game for us, and he wasn’t connecting to that. And if you’re not positive energy, you’re negative energy.”
*******
You’ll never hear words like that out of anyone affiliated with the Hawks because our GM is AWOL, our owners have no credibility, and our coach is timid and can’t even get our guys to play hard every night
High-sider
April 10th, 2012
10:05 pm
Boston shot lights out against Miami in South Florida tonight; Boston beats Miami, 115-107. The Celtics shot 60.6% [43-71] from the field and 64.3% [9-14] from behind the 3pt. arc; any [NBA] team shooting that well for a game will be hard to beat. Although the Celtics played a hell of a game and shot their ass[ets] off, I don’t see the Boston Celtics shooting this well [in] every game in the playoffs this postseason. On the other hand, these last two victories by Boston over Miami should give the Celtics a great deal of confidence that it [the Boston Celtics] can beat the Miami Heat in a playoff series.
Fire [Erik] Spoelstra!
P.S. I’m sick of hearing about the “video coordinator/intern [which is supposedly a quality control position] turned head coach” story [eg., Erik Spoelstra, Mike Brown, Kaleb Caneles, etc.]. I find that these types of head coaches over a period of time will not be able to command or garner the respect of quality NBA players especially [those] perennial All-Star and future HOFer players.
http://www.nba.com/games/20120410/BOSMIA/gameinfo.html?ls=gt2hp0021100853#nbaGIboxscore
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
April 10th, 2012
10:07 pm
Najeh
“They can lose their last three games for all I care, but they have to win these next two.”
This is just a baseless emotional comment which is complete nonsense.
You want to lose AT HOME to the Knicks, Clippers, and Mavs going into the Playoffs? LOL
Hawks have a very good chance of winning in the 1st round (if they stay in the top 6) unless it’s against Philly. Not too worried about homecourt. If we don’t get it, we will be in good shape. We stole a game at Orlando last year.
Of course tomorrow and Friday are crucial, but so are those last 3 games of the regular season. People begging for homecourt need to remember this is not Woodson’s team anymore. Under him, we were beating everyone at home. Under LD, we have lost seemingly more home games so that’s another thing to consider.
Slimjr
April 10th, 2012
10:09 pm
Knicks have super quick hands!
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
April 10th, 2012
10:11 pm
Tomorrow’s game is after 3 days rest and it’s at Boston. Not a good recipe.
As we all know by now, we have to play our best basketball at an almost impeccable level to beat teams like Boston, Miami, and Chicago. Josh Smith better freaking control himself and not settle for jumpshots if we want any chance of winning this game. I can see Teague pulling a Milwaukee in this game and just disappearing
Slimjr
April 10th, 2012
10:14 pm
9-19 against the winners…Now they go on the road up in Boston?
Buddy Grizzard
April 10th, 2012
10:21 pm
What was that about wanting BOS in the first round? Hawks better get the 3 seed or this will be a brief postseason.
SteveW
April 10th, 2012
10:22 pm
Last year we didn’t have Homecourt advantage in the playoffs, and still beat a heavily favored Magic team.
I’d like Homecourt, but I guess I want a desire to become Champions and win, health and rest more than Homecourt.
In football, the Giants did pretty well without homefield advantage. I don’t discount the advantage, I just think other factors are more important.
And I don’t think Al iwll make any significant contribution in the playoffs. He may play some, and give a morale boost, but I think his impact will be minimal, if any.
SteveW
April 10th, 2012
10:27 pm
Boston just went 4-2 against: Miami (twice, beat them both times), San Antonio (lost by 1), Chicago (loss), Indiana, and Philly. Not much rest in there, and some back to backs.
Tonite was no fluke. Boston is on fire right now.
So were the Knicks before they played the Hawks the other nite. Hope we have the same result tomorrow nite.
SteveW
April 10th, 2012
10:32 pm
The Knicks may have super quick hands (primarily Shump), but Chicago just went on a 14-2 run to open the 2nd quarter.
Give me the 14-2 run over the quick hands.
Slim, you know I’m just messin’ with you. Knicks still may pull it out.
SteveW
April 10th, 2012
10:37 pm
The Hawks up by 4 in the loss column over the 7 and 8 seeds, with 9 games to play. I’ll pull a ‘Nique and probably curse us and say we’re probably going to be one of the Top 6 seeds. And we can really help our cause by winning the next 5:
@ Boston
@ Orlando
H – Toronto
@ Toronto
H- Detroit
All 5 are winnable games. Knowing the Hawks sometimes, all 5 are losable games also. But win them, and Homecourt is looking really good.
Melvin
April 10th, 2012
10:39 pm
Philly wins and we didnt get an update tonight…
SteveW
April 10th, 2012
10:43 pm
The Mavs are tied for the 8th playoff spot in the West, only 1 game up over the 9th seed. What kind of upset would that be if they don’t make the playoffs after winning the Championship the year before?
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
April 10th, 2012
10:45 pm
“What kind of upset would that be if they don’t make the playoffs after winning the Championship the year before?”
Doesn’t matter if they get Deron in the offseason.
They also lost Tyson and spent 10M+ on freaking Odom
SteveW
April 10th, 2012
10:52 pm
JeJe – The internet rumor board has Dallas getting both DeRon and Dwight. That would be nasty, even with an old Dirk.
Dallas would have to give up the kitchen sink to get Dwight however, unless he somehow becomes a FA after next season. I don’t know that they have the players to trade for Dwight.
Big Ump
April 10th, 2012
10:58 pm
drmaryb, AJ, Doc
The legendary Soul Singer the late Sam Cook were the 1st one who put Summertime on top of the chart. AJ- them was the days. drmaryb -I miss you all and where is Big Ray.
SteveW
April 10th, 2012
11:07 pm
Maybe Boston is wanting to make 1 last run before they get broken up. Garnett has been beasting recently.
Doc is doing great. And Pietrus comes back for the playoffs. If they had Green O’Neal (Jermaine), they may be making a major run in the playoffs. They still might.
Dallas loses Chandler. We lose Al. I’d say we’ve done pretty good to this point without one of our main cogs.
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
April 10th, 2012
11:12 pm
Steve,
No way they get both.
They’ll clear up a bit (no way Kidd is coming back. Not sure what they do with Terry since he’ll be a FA) and throw everything at Deron. Gonna need to fill out roster. I think it’s extremely likely Deron goes there.
Biggest question is:
Who is the worse team next season: Charlotte or New Jersey? Both teams will be horrendous. Wizards a bit more talented so they’ll be 3rd worst IMHO, assuming none of the teams gets an immediate star rookie
Grandmaster JeJe (GM)
April 10th, 2012
11:15 pm
J’Oneal is pretty much done. He almost makes T-Mac look healthy
Grandad
April 10th, 2012
11:39 pm
High Sider
From your comment up ^..above..^ you have a valid point
concerning Spoelstra & others who come up through the ranks.
*[in regards to earning respect]
However, there are many ways to break into coaching.
Gregg popovich never played professionally;
having played at the Air Force Academy,
then fulfilling his Military obligation.
His 1st HC job was at Pomona-Pitzer ???
I know not many people have.
He moved on to become Larry Brown`s volunteer asst at Kansas
then returned to PP, before going to the NBA with Coach Brown.
Eventually becoming a HC.
Who is more respected than Pop.
Spoelstra did the VC thing as you mentioned;
-but prior-
he played collegiately at Portland State (I think).
He was on the ct the night Hank Gaithers died.
He -did- play professionally in Germany;
something that even Pop did not do.
Then much like Pop, he worked his way up under Riley.
*[a HOF coach]
H S – I`m not an ES fan by any means.
Respect can be earned by any person with strong character and integrity.
Not by the mere fact he may or may not have been a former player.
r e; Larry Drew.
Respectfully,
G-dad
Grandad
April 10th, 2012
11:40 pm
Who is more respected than Pop ?
question mark ?
Big Lou
April 10th, 2012
11:56 pm
Looks like the Knicks are going to lose to a Rose-less team. Does that make them suck like the Hawks?
Najeh Davenpoop
April 10th, 2012
11:58 pm
“This is just a baseless emotional comment which is complete nonsense.
You want to lose AT HOME to the Knicks, Clippers, and Mavs going into the Playoffs? LOL”
Haha. Where did I say I want them to lose to those teams? I’d rather they win every game and go 66-0, fo’, fo’, fo’, fo’. Since that’s not going to happen, among the games against good teams remaining, I care a lot more about the games against Boston and Orlando than the ones against New York and the West teams.
Maybe y’all think home court doesn’t matter, and maybe it doesn’t based on last year, but the Hawks this year are a .500 team on the road and a .667 team at home. Home court certainly wouldn’t hurt, and beating Boston and Orlando is essential to securing that.
And if you are going to say home court doesn’t matter based on last year, you can’t say going into the postseason with momentum matters at the same time, because the Hawks ended the regular season on a 6 game losing streak last year and ended up taking the Bulls to 6 games in the second round.
Big Lou
April 10th, 2012
11:58 pm
The great white hope…
Kyle Korver?
Lol
TMACfan
April 11th, 2012
12:20 am
I still wish TMAC could do this in the ISO…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtpWVp07A14
drmaryb.(*_*).
April 11th, 2012
12:32 am
One & Done!
“Boston shot lights out against Miami in South Florida tonight; Boston beats Miami, 115-107. The Celtics shot 60.6% [43-71] from the field and 64.3% [9-14] from behind the 3pt. arc; any [NBA] team shooting that well for a game will be hard to beat. Although the Celtics played a hell of a game and shot their ass[ets] off, I don’t see the Boston Celtics shooting this well [in] every game in the playoffs this postseason. On the other hand, these last two victories by Boston over Miami should give the Celtics a great deal of confidence that it [the Boston Celtics] can beat the Miami Heat in a playoff series.
Fire [Erik] Spoelstra!
P.S. I’m sick of hearing about the “video coordinator/intern [which is supposedly a quality control position] turned head coach” story [eg., Erik Spoelstra, Mike Brown, Kaleb Caneles, etc.]. I find that these types of head coaches over a period of time will not be able to command or garner the respect of quality NBA players especially [those] perennial All-Star and future HOFer players.” -highsider-
______________
This MIA team will never win a championship until they learn to play defense at all five positions for 48 minutes, seven games straight.
Super-Flops!
______________
This is the poster of the Day! High-Sider (MVP)
TMACfan
April 11th, 2012
12:41 am
We are beating the Celtics tomorrow. Count on it!
EmirS.
April 11th, 2012
1:28 am
If we post a better record then the Pacers, while still holding a better record then the Celtics, does that jump us over the Celtics into third place and Indiana into 5th?
northcyde
April 11th, 2012
2:31 am
Astro Joe
April 10th, 2012
10:12 am
Jordan Crawford is enjoying a freedom to make mistakes while stil playing 30+ minutes that hw would never get on a playoff bound team. It is quite easy to wax poetic about a player like that after they had a solid performance, but when you look at the game logs, you also find more than a few stinkers throughout the season. I liked JC2 from jump and predicted that he would be better as a rookie than Teague as a 2nd year player…. dude doesn’t appear to need constant reassuring or prodding… he gets it. And i wanted the Hawks to trade JC1 to free up more time for JC2 to establish himself as the designated bench scorer. But at the same time, volume scoring SGs are a dime a dozen and can be had cheaply. I’m pretty sure JC2 makes more than Willie Green. And health notwithstanding, Willie is far more consistent. Willie may not have many 20+ games (mostly due to limited playing time), but he also isn’t as likely to have games where he shoots you into trouble. JC2 needs to have his wildness now in hopes that he calms down later. That is hard to achieve when ownership demands a steady flow of revenue from 6 home playoff games.
*****************
Jordan Crawford was supposed to be the “insurance policy” in case JJ left us, so that we’d have Jamal and Jordan on the squad. He was also supposed to be the contingency plan to replace Jamal when the Hawks would choose not to re-sign him. But Sund in his genius saw value in Jordan, by trading him and Bibby for Kirk.
Drew didn’t believe that Jordan could play PG, and was a gunner at SG. He didn’t play, despite Jamal struggling at times last year, and Mo Evans being complete garbage, and Bibby going into an abyss. Jamal got most of the backup minutes at PG and SG, with Drew flat out refusing to extend Teague’s minutes and having Jordan buried on the bench.
The fact is that Jordan not only should’ve been getting minutes if Jamal and/or Teague wasn’t giving us anything, he could’ve been given the freedom to play both guard positions for at least 15 minutes a night. And he could’ve been reigned in, with the vets on this team.
Most important, you only play him if he’s making a contribution. You don’t leave him in for 20+ minutes like we were doing with Jamal and Bibby last year, when they were giving us nothing.
I laugh everytime we play the Wiz, and Nique talks about Jordan’s horrible shot selection. Like Jamal Crawford took good shots when he was here ( Nique loves Jamal by the way ). A good coach could definitely get a positive output out of Jordan.
( 21 pts – 4 rebs – 4 assists on 10 – 18 FG for him in the win over Orlando, by the way )
He’s still a work in progress, but it would be nice to have a young scorer on this team for the cheap, that would be under contract for the next 2 years. Would rather have him, than to worry about scavenging the garbage dump for a shooter every year. First Flip, then Jamal, now Willie. I guess next year it will be Baron Davis.
And for the record
Jordan – 1.12 million
Willie – 1.22 million ( but the Hawks probably get some kind of discount off of that, like with the Josh Powell contract )
Buddy G
April 11th, 2012
2:46 am
“If we post a better record then the Pacers, while still holding a better record then the Celtics, does that jump us over the Celtics into third place and Indiana into 5th?” – EmirS.
If the Hawks finish with the third best record in the East, they are the third seed. The three division winners and the team with the best record that did not win its division are the top 4 seeds. Those 4 teams are seeded in order of record. Thus, if the playoffs started today, Indiana would not be a division winner, but would get a top 4 seed. They would be seeded above the Celtics, who are division winners, because they have a better record.
Home court advantage is independent of seeding. The Celtics would be seeded 4th and play the 5th seeded Hawks, but the Hawks would have home court advantage because they have the better record.
The reason I say this will be a short postseason for the Hawks if they don’t get the third seed is not because of home court advantage. I previously wanted the Hawks to finish no worse than 6th to avoid CHI and MIA. But as hot as BOS has been playing, the safer path would be to avoid them as well. If the Hawks finish with the third-best record, they will likely play ORL, IND or PHI, all opponents they have a much better chance of beating than BOS.
Buddy G
April 11th, 2012
2:51 am
Also, northcyde, I would love it if the Hawks could have kept JC2 while still getting rid of Bibby. But the reality is that if Bibby was still here, he’d still be starting. Sund had to make that trade to save the organization from LD’s favoritism toward Bibby. WAS wanted JC2 to take on Bibby’s contract. JC2 got a lot of scoring opportunities and had the least efficient rookie season for a first round pick since Adam Morrison.
With Kirk gone next year, we will search for a backup combo guard who can replace him. JC2 would have been that player. But to keep JC2 on the roster so he could be useful 2 years after the fact, Sund would have had to keep Bibby and watch the Hawks lose in the first round last season. We gave up a LOT to dump Bibby, but we won a first round series. I think it was worth the cost.
northcyde
April 11th, 2012
2:51 am
MsDee
April 10th, 2012
3:43 pm
Northcyde
“You don’t get Executive of the Year votes by doing the bare minimum and afraid to make a big time move.”
Well, ummm, YES A CAN if we could finish the regular season off at seed #3, get to and pass 2nd round with the team of players HE signed, while paying a coach little to nothing, with injuries galore WHILE being the ONLY team to have beaten not 1, not 2, but 3 of the best top teams in the league..I SAY HE HAS A DARN GOOD CHANCE MY FRIEND, A DARN GOOD CHANCE!!
**************************
I would bet $10 that he doesn’t even get a vote. Nobody around the league is looking at Willie Green, Jannero Pargo and Ivan Johnson and saying . . “woo, that Rick Sund really did a great job this year”.
MsDee, we as a fan base are so starved for any glimmer of hope and progress, that we celebrate a guy like Ivan Johnson like he’s the next coming of Kevin Willis.
I think you forget who were the team that made the biggest moves this year. The Los Angeles Clippers
- traded for Chris Paul and gave up Eric Gordon and Chris Kaman
- signed Chauncey Billups ( a great move until he got hurt )
- signed Caron Butler
- signed Kenyon Martin
- signed Reggie Evans
- traded for Nick Young
Clippers go from a team that finished 18 games over .500 . . to a team that is currently 11 games under .500
In an 82 game season, the Clippers .596 winning percentage would translate into a 49 – 33 record . . . or a +17 improvement.
NBA GM of the Year: Clippers’ GM Neil Olshey
northcyde
April 11th, 2012
3:05 am
pointguardslim
April 10th, 2012
4:12 pm
And also to GMJ and northcyde
Josh at SF means he gets way less touches in the halfcourt. The motion offense entries to the PF or C at the top of the key… meaning Zaza and Ivan.
Hawks identity should become this type of team. A team that plays defense ugly and suffocates the other team with clogging the lanes.
The volume jumpshots are a function of playing the 4 position. I rather take Josh’s defense and our suffocating defensive ability in the big lineups and I consider Ivan at the top of the key a plus.
Lets Josh focus on other things. Like this. Cant wait to see him in his sleeker form + JJ + Teague in the backcourt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Igvf4F_oFj4
*******************
You keep talking about this pipe dream of Josh playing in the post at SF, yet, you think he’d get LESS touches? That doesn’t compute man.
There is no way in the world that Josh would touch the ball less if he played SF. What? We’re going to run the offense through Ivan? Do you honestly believe that?
Josh doesn’t shoot jumpshots because he plays the 4, he shoots jumpshots because that what Josh Smith does. Drew’s offense is a jumpshooting offense, so anytime Josh Smith got the ball, and his man doesn’t pressure him to put the ball off the floor, he’s taking the jumper . . . period.
Remember, Josh is supposedly our #1 option in the offense now, so he’s not giving up any shots to the likes of Ivan Johnson. Heck, he might even take more shots at SF.
northcyde
April 11th, 2012
3:28 am
Buddy G . . . come on man. Last year wasn’t the 1st time we won a 1st round series, so it’s not like that was a huge accomplishment. Beating Orlando was an accomplishment, but getting to the 2nd round wasn’t. We’d done that 2 times in a row.
This organization thinks short term, not long term. The Bibby for Hinrich trade wasn’t about bringing in Hinrich and freeing Drew for Bibby. It was about not playing the Luxury Tax this year.
We actually traded 4 PLAYERS for Kirk Hinrich
- Jordan Crawford
- Mike Bibby
- Mo Evans
Those 3 players alone would’ve been enough to trade for Kirk. But we also gave them our 2011 1st round pick ( which as Najeh pointed out earlier in the thread could’ve very well been Kenneth Faried ).
You know WHY we gave them a 1st round pick? To stay under the Luxury Tax for this season.
Had Bibby stayed with us, he’d make 6.2 million this year
Jordan made 1.12 million this year
Our #19 1st round pick ( which turned out to be Chris Singleton ) made 1.485 million
That’s a total of 8.805 million
Kirk made a flat 8 million
Sund and the ASG coveted that $805,000 in possible savings, because it would keep them out of the Luxury Tax. At least that’s my theory.
If that wasn’t the case, and they actually coveted Kirk Hinrich enough to give up not only Jordan, but a 2011 1st round pick as well, then they’re more incompetent than I thought. You don’t trade two young pieces for Kirk friggin Hinrich. Like Kirk was going to be the difference between us not getting to the Eastern Conference Finals.
drmaryb.(*_*).
April 11th, 2012
3:55 am
Blog Question?
Who gives the Hawks more bang for their buck this year alone?
Marvin Williams 7.5M
Kirk Hinrich 8.5M
drmaryb.(*_*).
April 11th, 2012
3:58 am
Blog Question?
Which Player is more movable to another team?
Marvin Williams 7.5M
Kirk Hinrich 8.5.
Buddy G
April 11th, 2012
4:15 am
“Sund and the ASG coveted that $805,000 in possible savings, because it would keep them out of the Luxury Tax. At least that’s my theory.”
Interesting theory, since they went into the luxury tax anyway.
drmaryb.(*_*).
April 11th, 2012
4:18 am
Match Ups!
“The reason I say this will be a short postseason for the Hawks if they don’t get the third seed is not because of home court advantage. I previously wanted the Hawks to finish no worse than 6th to avoid CHI and MIA. But as hot as BOS has been playing, the safer path would be to avoid them as well. If the Hawks finish with the third-best record, they will likely play ORL, IND or PHI, all opponents they have a much better chance of beating than BOS.” -My Buddy-
____________
This is a very true statement. My only caveat is that is very hard to beat the same team 4 of 7. Especially, when the playing field is leveled without one team playing b2b2b’S. The game plan between games, between quarters and favorable – vs – non-favorable match ups coupled, with rotations are keys.
Here’s my point: I don’t Philly will dominate the Hawks in a set seven game series and with their recent swoon, I’m not scared of them, should we line up in round one.
Of the following teams: Boston, Orlando, Indiana and Philly – I would rather avoid Boston. However, we match up very well with Boston and Orlando in a seven game series with home court.