Hawks Tumble In Latest Power Rankings After Disastrous Week

The Atlanta Hawks may have arrived at their first inflection point this season.

The Hawks have lost three straight and seven of their last nine, falling to 15-15 this season and in 9th place in the Eastern Conference. The Hawks have cratered on defense and are resembling teams of years past, not the contender that they hoped they would be this season.

Understandably, the recent streak has the Hawks dropping in the latest power rankings from NBA.com's John Schumann. Atlanta fell from No. 14 to No. 16 in the latest rankings, and Schumann pointed to the Hawks' obvious defensive issues as the biggest reasons why:

"OffRtg: 114.8 (12) DefRtg: 115.5 (18) NetRtg: -0.7 (17) Pace: 102.6 (5)

Trae Young is back, but the Hawks have lost three straight games to fall back to .500 for the first time since they were 5-5.

The Hawks were having issues before Young’s return, particularly in two of the last three games. They’re 2-7 this month, with the league’s 27th-ranked December defense. They’re last in opponent effective field goal percentage (59.2%) over these three weeks. Their 152-150 loss to the Bulls on Sunday afternoon (the highest-scoring game in the league over the last two seasons) was the fourth time this month that the Hawks have allowed more than 125 points per 100 possessions.
They had some rough starts last week, going down 24-9 in Charlotte, scoring just six points on their first nine possessions against the Spurs, and trailing 21-10 against the Bulls.

The Hawks won five of their first 10 games that they trailed by double digits, but are 0-9 when trailing by double digits since mid-November. The loss to the Hornets on Wednesday was their fourth where they never held a lead, a total that’s tied (with Brooklyn and New Orleans) for the most this season.

The Hawks remain the only team with a winning record (10-7) on the road and a losing record (5-8) at home. The opponents have been tougher at home, but that 5-8 mark includes losses this month to the Clippers and Bulls. The Hawks have three games left on their five-game homestand, with the first being a rematch of Sunday’s barn burner.

Coming up: The biggest of those three games is a visit from the eighth-place Heat (who the Hawks trail by half a game) on Friday. That’s the start of a stretch of seven straight games against teams with winning records."

Week 10: vs. CHI, vs. MIA, vs. NYK

Crucial Stretch Upcoming