Looking At Last Year's Wins (More Prediction Thoughts)

The Hawks won 47 games last year by beating up on worse teams, more specifically, the Hawks won 47 games by beating up on worse teams in the Eastern Conference. They won 2 of 12 games against Boston, Cleveland, and Orlando. They won 8 of 18 against the nine Western Conference teams with 46 or more wins. That 8-10 record against the good Western Conference teams isn't bad in and of itself, but it only brings the Hawks' record against equal or better opposition to 10-20. That's essentially a league-average record against those 12 opponents. The rest of the league (cumulatively) would have managed 9.3 wins in the 30 games the Hawks played against those opponents.The Hawks won 9 of 12 against the dregs of the Western Conference (Golden State, Minnesota, Memphis, Oklahoma City, the Clippers, and Sacramento) but that .750 winning percentage only marginally bettered the rest of the league's .723 winning percentage against those six teams. Collectively, against the Eastern C...