A few thoughts after tonight’s 113-96 loss to the Raptors:

- I’ll open by saying it was cool to see the Hawks pay respects to those impacted by yesterday’s tragedy in Boston.  There was a moment of silence before the game, and ‘Sweet Caroline,’ a Boston sports tradition, played at halftime.  Nice job by our game operations staff.

- It was clear Larry Drew wasn’t going to risk anything tonight.  While you’d certainly like to see the Hawks play well, it’s clear that the difference between the five seed and six seed isn’t important enough to overplay the regulars.  Al Horford was held out for precautionary reasons with a sore shoulder and Josh Smith didn’t play in the second half after getting his leg iced at halftime.

- The good thing about the regulars seeing limited minutes was that the bench players got to play a lot.  Many of them took advantage of the opportunity.  Ivan Johnson and Mike Scott both had double-doubles, Shelvin Mack added 11 and Johan Petro, who started in Horford’s place, added eight.

- One good thing that came from the on-court action was Kyle Korver extending his three-point streak to 73 straight games.

- The loss puts the Chicago Bulls back in fifth place due to them winning the tiebreaker.  The Hawks will face the Indiana Pacers in the first round unless they beat the Knicks in New York tomorrow and the Bulls lose at home to the Wizards.

- A few statistical notes – The Hawks actually took 10 more shots than Toronto and had seven fewer turnovers, but the Raptors shot 11 percent better.

While it’s still possible to get the five, the Hawks showed tonight that getting there isn’t the priority.  Drew wants to have everybody available and healthy for the playoffs, and that’s what he should have (outside of Lou Williams and Zaza Pachulia obviously).  I wouldn’t expect things to be much different in terms of playing time tomorrow in New York.  On the second night of a back-to-back and with the Bulls playing a winnable game, it may be a matter of getting some guys minutes while resting others.  Atlanta will know its playoff opponent for sure by tomorrow, so be sure to check Hawks.com for playoff dates and times as soon as it’s released.

On one final note – We want to say thank you to our fans for an amazing regular season at Philips Arena.  We saw some great moments once again here, and we hope many more will come in the postseason.

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The Chicago Bulls easily beat the Orlando Magic last night, which sets the stage for a Wednesday night full of channel-flipping and refreshing NBA.com.

The Bulls got Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson and Richard Hamilton back in last night’s 18-point road win at Orlando.  Chicago’s win assures that Atlanta can’t clinch the five seed even if they win in Toronto tonight.  The Hawks can still get the five by winning the last two, but it looks like they might have to do that because the Bulls host Washington tomorrow and are getting healthy at the right time.

If the Hawks win tonight, they’ll need only to win at New York tomorrow or hope the Bulls lose to finish fifth.  If Atlanta loses tonight, they’ll need both scenarios to happen to stay in fifth because the Bulls win the tiebreaker.

As we know, finishing fifth means facing the Brooklyn Nets first, while finishing sixth means drawing the Indiana Pacers.

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With six of the eight playoff seeds set in the East, the only thing left to be decided is which team among the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks will finish fifth.

The other team will of course finish sixth.

Here’s how the East will look come playoff time:

1)  Heat
2)  Knicks
3)  Pacers
4)  Nets
5)  Hawks/Bulls
6)  Bulls/Hawks
7)  Celtics
8)  Bucks

Right now the Hawks own a one-game lead over the Bulls for the five seed, which would send them to Brooklyn rather than Indiana.  The magic number to clinch that five spot is two, meaning any combination of Hawks wins or Bulls losses over the final four combined games the teams have left must be equal or greater than two.  Chicago is in action against Orlando tonight, meaning the Hawks could be looking at a magic number of one by the time they take the floor against the Raptors tomorrow.

However, a Chicago win would keep the pressure on Atlanta to win the final two to secure the five seed.  Let the games begin (or end…).

Teams to root for:  Magic

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With the Chicago Bulls‘ loss to the Miami Heat Sunday afternoon, the Hawks now have sole possession of the five seed with two games to play.

Atlanta can finish no worse than sixth, so it’s a matter of who the Hawks want to play.  If they feel more comfortable playing the Indiana Pacers first to avoid Miami’s side of the bracket, then resting starters and dropping one of the final two might be okay.  If they want the Brooklyn Nets, who I think are a much better matchup for the Hawks, then the focus should be on winning these final two to lock up #5.

Personally, I don’t understand the argument that I’m hearing about “avoid Miami in the second round.”  Let’s be realistic.  The Heat have the best chance of any team in the East to reach the conference finals.  So does it really matter whether you play them in the second round or third?  I’d rather have a good first-round matchup, and that’s what the Hawks will get if they finish five.  Brooklyn is a much more winnable series than Indiana.  The Pacers give the Hawks matchup problems at almost every position, they have a deeper bench, and they have size.  Brooklyn is formidable, no doubt, but the Hawks have proven they can run on the Nets, which will be the key for them to win any series.  They also have a win in Brooklyn but have yet to win in Indianapolis.

Can the Hawks beat either team in a seven-game series?  If they play well, the answer is yes.  But I don’t think you risk playing a tougher first-round opponent to get the second-round matchup you want.  Take the five, playing the beatable opponent and see where the cards fall.  Besides, we saw what happened with last year’s #1 seed – the Bulls lost Derrick Rose and couldn’t even get out of the first round.  Of course I’m not hoping any Heat players get hurt, but you just can’t predict playoff basketball.  Maybe the Bucks get hot and beat Miami?  Stranger things have happened.

Biggest winner:  Hawks
Atlanta needed two Bulls losses before the weekend started.  They got what they needed.

Biggest loser:  Bulls
Chicago would much rather see Brooklyn than Indiana.  They’ll be rooting against the Hawks this week to make that happen.

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The Chicago Bulls have owned the Miami Heat in the regular season since LeBron James arrived in South Beach (7-3 against them).  One more win would go a long way in securing the fifth spot in the East for Chicago.

The Hawks, meanwhile, are watching today’s action from home.  Having played one more game than most teams in action today, Atlanta gets the benefit of a three-day break.  They’ll no doubt be rooting for the Heat to beat the Bulls.  If the Heat win, the Hawks can get the five seed by winning Tuesday (vs. Toronto) and Wednesday (at New York).  However, a Bulls win would give them the edge with two games remaining.

Another interesting development is taking place a few spots higher in the standings.  The Brooklyn Nets are on fire as of late, while the Indiana Pacers have been fading.  This has put the three seed in question with three games remaining for each team.  Brooklyn has won all three games between the two, meaning should Indiana lose two more and the Nets win out, Brooklyn would actually get the three seed.  Today, Indiana visits New York, and they have a trip to Boston next.  Brooklyn meanwhile is in Toronto today.  It’s still a tall task for the Nets, but should both New York-area team win today, the Nets would be just one back with two to play.  The reason this is so significant is not only because the Hawks’ opponent would be determined by that race, but also because the 3 vs. 6 winner avoids Miami in the second round, while the 4 vs. 5 winner will see the Heat next (assuming Miami gets past the Milwaukee Bucks).

Still a lot to be decided with only four days left in the season!

Teams to root for:  Heat

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A few thoughts after tonight’s 109-104 win over the Bucks:

- There’s something about the Bucks that must make the Hawks think they’re never out of a game.  Atlanta rallied from 10 down in the final minutes to beat the Bucks 103-102 in game one, overcame an eight-point deficit to win game two, clawed back from six down late to win game three and recorded tonight’s 19-point comeback to earn the sweep.

- The Bucks were hot early but couldn’t sustain their incredible three-point shooting.  They finished 17-33 from deep (52%), which is still really good, but they were hovering around 63 percent for most of the first half.  The Hawks did a much better job closing on their shooters in the fourth quarter.

- The Bucks are a team that allows opponents to run, and that’s exactly what the Hawks did early and often.  They finished with 33 fast-break points, just three shy of their season high.  Many of those were in initiated by Jeff Teague, who had a fabulous 24-point, 10-assist night.

- Josh Smith was again effective from the field, shooting 11-17 on his way to 24 points.  J-Smoove has now shot 50 percent or better in three straight games.  It’s great to see him getting to the rim and taking quality shots.

- Perhaps the biggest contributor off the bench tonight was Ivan Johnson.  The big man scored nine points, including six straight in the fourth quarter when the Hawks and Bucks were trading baskets.  If not for him, Milwaukee likely would have pulled away.  Ivan has now shot 50 percent or better in 10 straight games.

- Kyle Korver needed just 19 seconds to extend his three-point streak to 72 games.  He hit one on Atlanta’s first possession, which seriously may have been the quickest I’ve seen him make one so far this year.

Overall, this was a game the Hawks needed to play as the playoffs approach.  With the regulars nursing injuries over the past few weeks and Wednesday’s blowout win, Atlanta hasn’t played a close, hard-fought game with the starters in weeks.  It was good to see them battle back against a playoff team and get a win.  Hopefully they can continue building momentum after a few days off when they play Toronto Tuesday.

A quick note on playoff positioning – The Hawks are technically the five seed after tonight’s win and Chicago’s loss, though the Bulls still control their own destiny by virtue of owning the tiebreaker.  We’ll see how it shakes out over the next week.

The Raptors beat the Chicago Bulls at the United Center on Tuesday.  Can they pull off the upset twice in one week?

Doing so would help the Hawks’ cause for the five seed.  Chicago currently sits a half game ahead of Atlanta but also owns the tiebreaker, so you could look at that lead as 1.5 games for the purposes of seeding.  If I know Chicago, they’ll be ready for Toronto tonight.  The Hawks, meanwhile, have a tough task in trying to sweep the Milwaukee Bucks tonight.  Atlanta has won the first three games, but all three have been competitive.  Should the Hawks win and the Bulls lose, Atlanta will own the five spot in the standings (but again, Chicago would still control its own destiny for that spot).

While the top four look to be set in the East, an intriguing matchup still takes place in Indianapolis tonight when the Brooklyn Nets visit the Indiana Pacers.  Brooklyn is coming off a huge road win against the Boston Celtics, while Indiana came from 20 down to beat Cleveland last time out.  There’s not a huge preference for Hawks fans here, though if the destination of the first game of the postseason is indeed Indiana, why not have Brooklyn win just to keep the Pacers from gaining momentum?

The Celtics meanwhile, are in Miami to face the Heat.  LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh are all playing, so the Heat are the favorites here.  Boston still has a long-shot to get the six seed, though those dreams could be officially dashed tonight if they lose and Atlanta wins.  We’ll root for Miami either way, because any distance is good distance.

Teams to root for:  Raptors, Nets, Heat

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The Chicago Bulls broke another streak last night and got a big win in the standings at the same time.

The New York Knicks came into last night’s game on a 13-game winning streak, but Nate Robinson’s 35 points off the bench sparked Chicago to a 118-111 overtime win despite the Bulls blowing a nine-point fourth quarter lead late.  The Bulls are now a half game ahead of Atlanta in the East standings, but they’re essentially two up because it would take two losses over the final four games for the Hawks to have a chance to pass them.

Last night’s game clears up the playoff picture in the East just a little bit.  It looks more and more like Atlanta will head to Indiana to face the Pacers in the first round.  The Bulls have games against the Raptors, Wizards and Magic, which are all winnable.  Meanwhile, Indiana is too far ahead of Brooklyn and too far behind New York to switch places with either of them.

Biggest winner:  Bulls
Chicago cemented itself as the five seed with last night’s streak-breaking win.

Biggest loser:  Hawks
Only because I’ve been putting this category here.  The Hawks really don’t “lose,” but the Bulls made it more difficult to climb after last night.

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New York’s 14th straight win could also be a big one for the Hawks.

The Knicks face the Chicago Bulls tonight in the only Eastern Conference game on the schedule.  The Knicks are looking for their 14th straight victory but will be without a fair amount of their regulars, who are nursing minor injuries in light of the team all but clinching the two seed with the recent run.  If the Bulls win, they move a half game in front of Atlanta of the five seed, but a loss moves Atlanta into that position.  As I’ve said before, the Hawks lose the tiebreaker with Chicago should the teams finish even, so the Hawks are hoping the Bulls lose a few in the final week.

No other East teams are in action tonight, but at this point it would be difficult for the Hawks to drop lower than where they are now or move up higher than five, so the Bulls are the team to watch right now.

Teams to root for: Knicks

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The Hawks are in prime position to finish no worse than sixth in the East after the Brooklyn Nets took care of the Boston Celtics 101-93 at TD Garden last night.

The Brooklyn win means the Hawks cannot host a first round playoff series.  However, it appears unlikely that Atlanta will have to deal with New York in the first round, which may be a good thing considering the Knicks have won 13 in a row.

Deron Williams scored 29 points, Brook Lopez added 21 and Joe Johnson dropped 20 as the Hawks moved 2.5 games ahead of Boston for the six spot.

Atlanta’s blowout win over Philadelphia also helped them pull within a tenth of a percent of the Chicago Bulls for the five spot.  The Bulls own the tiebreaker over the Hawks, which means Chicago would still have to lose two of its next five for Atlanta to have a chance.  The Knicks and Heat are still on Chicago’s schedule, so we’ll see how it plays out.

At this point, seeds 1, 2, 3, 4 and 8 are about set.  Boston is close to locking up the seventh spot, which means all eyes may be on the Hawks to round out the seeding over the season’s final six days.

Biggest winner:  Hawks
Atlanta got a nice road winto move into a virtual tie with Chicago for fifth.  They also probably won’t drop to seventh because…

Biggest loser: Celtics
…Boston lost a critical home game to Brooklyn.  Celtics assistants are already starting to look at Knicks tapes.

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