Playoff Opponent Preview: The Atlanta Hawks

We still don't know who the Cavs will face in the first round, but let's take a look at the Atlanta Hawks, just in case!

This is a hawk. I don’t know if it is from Atlanta or not. But it is definitely a hawk. Photo by Aaron Doucett on Unsplash

The Cleveland Cavaliers will begin their playoff run on Sunday night against the winner of the third Eastern Conference Play-In Game on Friday night between the Atlanta Hawks and Miami Heat.

One of those two teams will find a way to win and then hop on a plane to Cleveland. That game could go either way and no outcome should be surprising. That’s why we’re going to preview both potential series matchups for the Cavs. First we’ll look at Atlanta since their the No. 8 seed and have homecourt advantage in Friday’s game¹. Tomorrow we’ll take a deeper dive into the Miami Heat.

Atlanta Hawks - 40-42, 8th in Eastern Conference

This season could probably best be described as weird for the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks have unquestionably exceeded expectations for what this season was supposed to be. Atlanta entered this season with FanDuel projecting its win total at 36.5 games. Despite making a significant trade² and losing its second-best player³ to a season-ending shoulder injury in January, the Hawks found a way to win 40 games during the regular season. Doing this without being better than average at anything, even in a bad Eastern Conference, should qualify as a good year⁴ for a franchise that is hoping better days are ahead.