Southeast Division

Atlanta Hawks Power Rankings - 2011-12

Power Ranking
WEEKRECORDRANKCOMMENT
Week 1738-2612Joe Johnson's 30-point eruption Friday against the starless Celts (Rondo, Pierce, KG and Ray all sat) halted a worrying run of nine straight games below 20 points. More worrisome, perhaps, is the fact that the Celts don't seem too bothered about who has home-court advantage in their looming Round 1 encounter.
Week 1635-2514Interesting Sunday night tweet from Professor Hollinger, who posits the theory that the Hawks -- after climbing to a season-best 11 games over .500 -- didn't exactly mind losing at home to Toronto because they want to finish sixth in the East and face Indy instead of Boston in Round 1. Long line, though.
Week 1534-2312Where do you have Atlanta when you're drawing up your list of threats to the Chicago-Miami duopoly in the East? In a playoff series, I'd be inclined to put the Celts and Knicks at the top of the list. But perhaps this week's stops in Boston and Orlando give the Hawks two prime opportunities to change our minds.
Week 1431-2312The committee happened to be watching SportsCenter on Wednesday night when our man Scott Van Pelt, watching Atlanta absorb a beatdown at home from the Rose-less Bulls, opined that the Hawks are quite an "odd team" that's really good when they're good and really bad when they're bad. Pretty much sums it up.
Week 1330-207When you go four OTs in the last game of a back-to-back-to-back set and pull out a win against the league's hottest team, that'll generally get you some notice from Team of the Week selectors. Also notable: Joe Johnson is only averaging 23.3 ppg and shooting 51 percent on 3s in 11 games since returning from injury.
Week 1226-1911Josh Smith's longstanding desire to be traded is common knowledge now, but give him this much: Atlanta has been getting some of the best ball he's ever played in the same month management has staunchly refused his wish to be dealt. J-Smoove in March: 25.2 ppg and 9.4 rpg even after Sunday's stinker in Cleveland.
Week 1124-1714Go ahead. Try figuring these guys out. You putting more stock in the recent wins over Orlando, OKC and Indiana? Or the losses to the Warriors and Pistons? Elias says Friday night's 86-85 loss in Detroit was their eighth straight defeat in one-point games on the road ... one short of the NBA record.
Week 1022-1518Josh Smith sure seems to enjoy being the focal point of the offense while Joe Johnson's sore knee heals and Al Horford dreams of an April return. The Hawks badly needed their Josh-led sweep of a back-to-back against Milwaukee and scorching OKC after dropping five of their previous seven at home.
Week 920-1416The Hawks have five straight wins over Orlando. And four double-doubles from a seething Josh Smith in his past five games after he was snubbed not only by East coaches but also by David Stern when the injured Joe Johnson had to be replaced in the All-Star Game. And that's pretty much where the good news stops.
Week 819-1216More fodder for those of you, like me, who feel like J-Smoove should have been Atlanta's All-Star over Joe Johnson: JJ averaged 19.8 ppg in January but is down to 14.3 ppg in February. He hasn't averaged fewer than 15 points per game in any calendar month, according to Elias, since December 2004 in Phoenix.
Week 718-1012Might have to ease up slightly on the Hawks about that 5-9 record against .500-or-better teams ... since Miami is the only team in the East with a winning record (10-4) in that category. J-Smoove's response to getting All-Star snubbed again: 19 boards to Dwight Howard's 18 in an OT win Friday night.
Week 616-814Sorry, Hawks. Can't give you two All-Stars when you have four wins in 12 tries against .500-or-better teams. The consolation: Atlanta is a tidy 12-0 against teams with losing records to rank as the only unbeaten team in that category even after losing Horford. And it's 10-1 when Joe Johnson scores 20-plus.
Week 515-69You know what? The Hawks' 8-2 record without Al Horford -- with only three of those wins coming against teams (Wolves, Blazers, Bucks) playing what you'd call decent basketball -- is a touch easier to explain than the fact Horford was averaging only a modest 12.4 ppg and 7.0 rpg when he got hurt.
Week 412-59Apologies to the Hawks. They've mostly beaten up on patsies in this 5-1 run without Al Horford, but there's been no dip from them yet. Larry Drew actually called them out for some surrender signs in Friday's loss in Philly ... and they responded by shredding Cleveland by 27.
Week 39-412A shame it happened so soon after those big wins over Miami and Chicago, but there's no getting around it: Atlanta just lost the guy on the roster closest to irreplaceable, because Al Horford ranks not only as its best big man but also its smartest player.
Week 26-36As soon as you figure out the Hawks, let us know. In a roller-coaster week, they looked like defensive juggernauts in monster wins over Miami (in Miami) and Chicago ... and at other times like a dude out of the D-League (Ivan Johnson) was their best player.
Week 13-114The Hawks would owe it to themselves to try as hard they can to chase Dwight Howard no matter where he's from, but it'll be interesting nonetheless to see how the likes of Al Horford and Joe Johnson cope with seeing their names out there.
Preseason44-3818Jamal C. is gone, Hinrich is hobbled and newcomers like T-Mac were limited to one-year deals in the wake of the team's collapsed sale. So expect more of the Hawks who went 10-17 after the All-Star break than the team that upset Orlando in Round 1.
Training Camp19-120More fodder for those of you, like me, who feel like J-Smoove should have been Atlanta's All-Star over Joe Johnson: JJ averaged 19.8 ppg in January but is down to 14.3 ppg in February. He hasn't averaged below 15 points per game in any calendar month, according to Elias, since December 1994 in Phoenix.

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