The Hawks are a game back of the 8th spot, 3 games back of the 6th spot. I'm not very worried because Philly and n.j have just been lucky with easy schedules after the all-star game, while it's the opposite for the Hawks. Hawks after the all-star breaks- LAL(L), Sac(L),GSW(W),Utah(L) Those are all games on the road, against solid to very good teams. To add the Hawks played very well against Utah in a back-to-back, they took the lead for a good while, then they went TO crazy, when Bibby left. You add that they're not playing with a bench the only bench player is Childress, while Law is out for the next 3 games. After this horrible road trip the hawks have games against Sacramento, 3 games against NY, Charlotte, 3 games against Miami, Clippers, Washington, NJ, 2 games against Chicago, Memphis, 2 games against Philly, and Boston and Orl in the end where they'll be resting their starters. Philly After the All-star break- Min(L), NY(W), Orl(L), Mia(W) Basically they had a very easy schedule, with 3 of the 4 being the worst teams in the league. Their next games are against...Orl, GS, Pho. Philly has a bunce of games against teams that are .500 from here on out, so they have a losing streak waiting for them. N.J After the all-star break- Chi(W), Ind(L), Ind(W) they have also been getting by with a relatively easy schedule. their next games are against Sa, Memphis, SA..then they go on a big Western Conference road trip. They don't have it easy from here on out, they're easy games will be against Philly and NY in a back-to-back.
How can you say that Philly has been lucky?? Both Andres have been tearing it up. Young and williams are both stepping up and playing good. and sammy D is making less idiotic plays and solidifying himself as a great rebounder/shotblocker in the league. They may have had an easy schedule, but i believe this time last year they also turned it up and played very well. I would look for the sixers to be ahead of both NJ and the Hawks in the playoff hunt this year.
They've been tearing it up against easy teams. They're 4-24 against teams that are over .500, and 13 of their next 24 games are against teams above .500.
