Atlanta Hawks

Eastern Conference Playoff Picture: Hawks fact red-hot Pistons

By Chris Vivlamore
March 26, 2016

The Hawks enter Saturday’s game at the Pistons with a half-game lead for third in the Eastern Conference. The Celtics and Heat remain close at hand. The Hornets have dropped back a game behind in the sixth spot.

The Pistons, winners of five straight, have made a run and are just .001 behind the Pacers for the seventh spot.

The Bulls have fallen two games out of the eighth and final playoff spot. The Hawks, with a magic number of four, are at the Bulls on Monday.

It’s a busy day in the East. In other key games in the playoff race are Pacers at Nets, Bulls at Magic, Raptors at Pelicans. Cavaliers at Knicks, Hornets at Bucks and Celtics at Suns.

Here is a look at the playoff race:

Rank
Team
W-L
Pct.
Div.
Conf.
Home
Away
GB
>=.500 (H/A)
<=.500 (H/A)
1
Cleveland-y
51-21
,708
7-5
29-14
30-6
21-15
-
6 (3/3)
4 (2/2)
2
Toronto-x
48-23
.676
11-2
33-12
28-8
20-15
2.5
7 (4/3)
4 (1/3)
3
Atlanta
43-30
.589
8-7
25-19
24-13
19-17
8.5
7 (3/4)
2 (1/1)
4
Boston
42-30
.583
10-6
29-19
25-12
17-18
9
6 (2/4)
4 (2/2)
5
Miami
42-30
.583
9-5
26-19
24-13
18-17
9
5 (2/3)
5 (2/3)
6
Charlotte
41-31
.569
7-7
26-16
27-11
14-20
10
3 (0/3)
7 (3/4)
7
Indiana
38-33
.535
6-7
24-18
22-13
16-20
12.5
3 (2/1)
8 (4/4)
8
Detroit
39-34
.534
8-6
25-20
24-12
15-22
12.5
6 (3/3)
3 (2/1)
9
Chicago
36-35
.507
7-5
21-23
24-13
12-22
14.5
6 (3/3)
5 (1/4)
10
Washington
35-37
.486
8-6
26-21
19-19
16-18
16
5 (2/3)
5 (1/4)
11
Milwaukee
30-43
.411
4-9
19-25
21-14
9-29
21.5
5 (4/1)
4 (2/2)
12
New York
30-43
.411
6-7
19-26
17-19
13-24
21.5
5 (4/1)
4 (1/3)
13
Orlando
29-43
.403
3-10
16-27
18-17
11-26
22
7 (4/3)
3 (2/1)
14
Brooklyn**
20-51
.282
6-8
11-31
13-24
7-27
30.5
6 (2/4)
5 (2/3)
15
Philadelphia**
9-63
.125
2-12
3-42
6-30
3-33
42
7 (2/5)
3 (3/0)

y - Clinched division

x - Clinched playoff berth

** - Eliminated from playoffs

About the Author

Chris Vivlamore is the sports editor at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has served as reporter and editor at the AJC since 2003.

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