The Hawks got a big victory Thursday night as they finally defeated the Raptors. It meant a lot.
With the win, the Hawks remained in the third spot in the Eastern Conference playoffs race and kept the Heat, who defeated the Bulls, a half-game back. The Heat have the tie-breaker advantage of the Hawks.
The Bulls are on the brink of elimination and would miss the playoffs for the first time since 2007-08. They are out with a Pacers win tonight. The Bulls won the lottery after that season and drafted Derrick Rose.
There are several key games in the conference on Friday with the Nets at Hornets, Heat at Magic, Bucks at Celtics, Wizards at Pistons and Pacers at Raptors. A Heat win would move them ahead of the Hawks by virture of that tiebreaker.
In other playoff scenarios, the Pacers and Pistons each clinch with a win and the Wizards are eliminated with a loss. Also, the Cavaliers clinch the No. 1 seed with a Raptors loss.
Here is the current playoff picture in the East:
c - Clinched Central division
a - Clinched Atlantic division
x - Clinched playoff berth
Eliminated from playoffs: Orlando, Milwaukee, New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia
Remaining games
Cavaliers: at Bulls, vs. Hawks, vs. Pistons
Raptors: vs Pacers, at Knicks, vs. 76ers, at Nets
Hawks: vs. Celtics, at Cavaliers, at Wizards
Celtics: vs. Bucks, at Hawks, vs. Hornets, vs. Heat
Heat: at Magic, vs. Magic, at Pistons, at Celtics
Hornets: vs. Nets, at Wizards, at Celitcs, vs. Magic
Pacers: at Raptors, vs. Nets, vs. Knicks, at Bucks
Pistons: vs. Wizards, vs. Heat, at Cavaliers
Bulls: vs. Cavaliers, at Pelicans, vs. 76ers
Wizards: at Pistons, vs. Hornets, at Nets, vs. Hawks
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