The Hawks had a chance Tuesday night to gain some ground on the Magic for the seventh seed and home-court advantage in the Play-In Tournament. With only three games remaining in the regular season, the Hawks have few chances left to return to the seventh seed.
While the Hawks have their eyes set on regaining the seventh seed after their 119-112 loss at Orlando, they have punched their ticket to the Play-In Tournament. Now, the final three games of the season will determine where and who the Hawks will play when the tournament begins Tuesday.
The Hawks sit two games behind the Magic following Tuesday’s loss, but that does not mean they’re out of chances to host a Play-In game. According to Tankathon, the Hawks have the fifth weakest remaining schedule, with games against the Nets, 76ers and Magic (at home). The Magic have the sixth hardest remaining schedule, with games against the Celtics, Pacers and Hawks, all on the road.
So the Hawks, who have a 37-42 record, would need to make a run in the final three games to catch the Magic, who are currently are at 39-40.
The Magic, however, have the better division record, conference record and head-to-head record since they currently have a 2-1 lead on the Hawks in the regular-season series. To secure the seventh seed and secure home-court advantage, they would need to win one more game.
As of now, the Hawks will travel to Orlando to face the Magic in the game between the seventh- and eighth-seed teams in the Eastern Conference.
The Hawks still are in danger of falling to ninth, or even 10th, if they lose more than one of their final three games. They sit only one game ahead of the Bulls and the Heat, who both are tied for the ninth seed leading into a matchup against each other Wednesday night.
Since the Hawks finished the season series against the Bulls 3-1, they own the head-to-head tiebreaker if both teams end the season with the same record. But the Hawks lost the season series against the Heat. If the Hawks finish the season with the same record as the Heat, they would become the ninth seed.
The Play-In Tournament gives teams on the bubble up to two chances to make it into the playoffs with a “win to get in” format. The winner of the game between the seventh and eighth seeds will proceed to the playoffs as the seventh seed and will face the No. 2 seed in the conference. The loser of that 7-versus-8 matchup then hosts the winner of the game between the ninth and 10th-ranked teams. The winner of that game enters the playoffs as the eighth seed, with a first-round meeting against the top seed in the conference.
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