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
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407 comments Add your comment
BIG DOG
April 11th, 2012
12:45 pm
Hawks will lose tonight with smallish lineup.
BIG DOG IN THE HOUSE
northcyde
April 11th, 2012
12:45 pm
LOL @ Miami was pretty bad that year. Most “experts” picked the Hawks to LOSE that series, because they believed that Wade would eventually pull out the series. That “pretty bad” team played without Jermaine O’Neal most of the year and traded away Shawn Marion.
That was also the year in which both Marvin and Horford was hurt during the playoffs. But I guess it’s easy to forget that Marvin missed 22 games – Horford 15 games – and Smith 13 games that year.
Zaza was actually the guy that saved us that year from getting knocked out of the 1st round, with his great performance in Game 6 at Miami.
northcyde
April 11th, 2012
12:49 pm
@ Ms Dee . . . the point still stands. You don’t win Executive of the Year ( or even get fringe votes ), unless you or your team does something significant during the regular season. Just because the Hawks didn’t fall off the cliff with the loss of Horford, doesn’t mean that Sund is a great executive.
The “Dollar Tree” players that Sund acquired have been solid for the most part. But there will be no parades down Peachtree Street for those moves. Bring in a Chris Paul, however, and he’s seen as a great executive.
drmaryb.(*_*).
April 11th, 2012
12:51 pm
ATLANTA XPLOSION! REIGNING WORLD CHAMPIONS
My chics bad … My chics good … My chics do things YOUR team wish it could.
correction:
The Atlanta professional sports teams have THREE world championships in 45 years:
Atlanta Xplosion (2)
Atlanta Braves (1)
The chics win!
__________
Let’s go Hawks! Make some history. Win on Three! 1-2-3 WIN!!!
drmaryb.(*_*).
April 11th, 2012
1:02 pm
The Dollar Tree!
Ha Ha … NortyCyde! The old cardboard bargain bin is brimming with talent overload. The 4×4x4 box is alive and well.
This year, a few DVD’s fell outa’ there and the eight orangutans threw a little more than feces at the fans. No sir, this year we got Green and Pargo!
That was just “too much good stuff” – a slam dunk of sorts. At that price 2 for $1 … You betcha’ we’ll be right back in line for some more of that next year. LOL!
What moves do you think Sund and ‘Nem will make next go ’round? Can’t waite!
vava74
April 11th, 2012
1:07 pm
Rod,
Always skewing reality in your favor.
First you “forget” that we got to the second round in 2009 to “validate” the essentiality of having Jamal on our roster when we went AS FAR with Flip.
MIA was bad? Again, another “nudge” to make your point…
Umm… yes, they were nothing to rave about that MIA team BUT… last year ORL were really not substantially better than that MIA team.
Wade is waaaaay better than Howard in my book and the filler in both rosters was more or less equivalent.
Also, you say:
“Mo Evans and Marvin trying to check Lebron, and Delonte West shuting down Iso Joe. It was ugly.”
You forget THREE facts which weighted against us on that CLE sweep:
1. Horford was injured badly and hardly could play.
2. Marvin was injured badly and hardly could play.
(JJ was also hurt, limping noticeably)
3. The refs simply killed us.
Note: Earlier that year with the roster at full strenght we had been very competitive against CLE (including Marving doing a good job on Lefart)
Michael Cunningham
April 11th, 2012
1:09 pm
new blog posted. shutting down this thread.