Three Bold Predictions For The Rest Of The Atlanta Hawks Season

The Atlanta Hawks are 7-1 in the eight games since the All-Star Break and their biggest acquisition at the trade deadline, Jonathan Kuminga, has only played in three of those games due to a nagging knee injury. Kuminga has been fantastic in the three games that he has been able to play, but Atlanta has managed to win without him as well.

There are 18 games left this season for the Hawks and plenty to play for. Here are three bold predictions for the rest of the season.

1. Hawks jump in to the top six of the Eastern Conference

With this winning streak, the Hawks have positioned themselves to potentially make not just the top six of the Eastern Conference, but, maybe even the top five.

After Sunday's games, the Hawks are 3.5 games behind Toronto for the No. 5 spot in the East, 2.5 games behind the Magic and the Heat for No. 7 and No. 8, and 1.5 games behind the 76ers for the No. 8 spot. The Hawks own the tiebreaker over Philadelphia and if the win one of their final two games against the Magic, they will win that season series and the tiebreaker as well.

The schedule ahead for the Hawks provides plenty of opportunity as well. Atlanta faces Dallas, Brooklyn, and Milwaukee this week, a real chance to extend their winning streak to nine. They have one of the easiest schedules left in the NBA and I think the Hawks can make the climb into the top six.

2. Jalen Johnson makes his case for third team All-NBA

Jalen Johnson has been awesome for the Hawks this season and he has a chance to make his case to be a third team All-NBA player down the stretch of this season and he showed in Saturday's game why he has a case.

Johnson tallied a game-high 35 points on 12-19 shooting, including a perfect 9-9 from the charity stripe, to go along with a team-high 10 rebounds, seven assists, and two steals in 39 minutes of play, securing his 39th double-double and his career-best 12th 30+ point performance this season. In four games against Philadelphia this season, Johnson has three double-doubles and one triple-double

Johnson is third in the NBA in rebounds per game and fifth in the league in assists. If the Hawks keep winning and Johnson continues to pile up the numbers, he will make his case to be on the third team for All-NBA.

3. Atlanta finishes with their best record under Quin Snyder and their best record since the 2021-2022 season

The Hawks have not finished with a record above .500 since the 2021-2022 season, when they finished as the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference and lost to the Heat in the first round. With their schedule down the stretch of the season, the Hawks have a chance to surpass that record of 43-39.

In the two full seasons under Quin Snyder (not counting when he came in in February 2023), the Hawks best regular season record is 40-42, which they had last season. I think they pass that and get to 45 wins.