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Photo by 404x404, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsEighteen and three since the All-Star break. Seventeen of the last nineteen. A 130-101 demolition of Orlando that felt like a championship parade in March.
Cool. Now beat someone who matters.
I'm 60% sure these Hawks are a legitimate playoff threat — up from 55% after the Boston miss — and I need you to understand how much that number is fighting me right now.
The record says contender. The schedule says fraud. They're 0-4 against playoff teams at full strength. I said the Hawks would beat the Celtics at 95% and they lost 109-102. I ate that L publicly. Learned something from it too: this team feasts on the weak and folds against the real.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker just dropped 32 on 68.8% shooting against Orlando. Jalen Johnson won Eastern Conference Player of the Month averaging 22.4/8.5/8.5. Those numbers are undeniable. But Orlando is tanking. The Magic aren't measuring anyone for a playoff run.
Here's the schedule that decides everything: at Brooklyn tonight, at the Knicks, two games against Cleveland, then Miami. Five games. Five opponents who actually want to win in April.
The Play-In starts April 14. Playoffs on the 18th. The Hawks are 44-33 and sitting 5th in the East with the Sixers tiebreaker locked up.
But seeding doesn't scare anyone. Winning does.
I was wrong about Boston. I'll own that forever. But this is different — I'm not predicting a win tonight. I'm predicting something bigger: by April 8, we'll know exactly what this team is. The gauntlet doesn't lie.
Bookmark this. Come back in five days. Tell me I'm wrong.
The Tilt
The Hawks' 18-3 run is meaningless until they beat someone who matters.
— Dex Ponce
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